Somalia's U.N. ambassador on Tuesday criticized the U.N. arms embargo on his country and accused the international community of neglecting 15 years of suffering and near anarchy in the Horn of Africa nation. Ambassador Elmi Ahmed Duale said Somalia was not getting the support it needs to re-establish a functioning government and oust the rival warlords who have ruled battling fiefdoms in the country since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. "My government is seeking not only dialogue and reconciliation, but a real governance," he said. "We feel that our country has been neglected."
| "We really need somebody to govern us. Can the Italians come back?" |
Duale said the year-old transitional government cannot move forward while the 1992 U.N. arms embargo restricts its ability to form even the "basic nucleus of a police force to maintain law and order." He said he does not want the embargo removed immediately, but he hopes the African Union will present the Security Council with a plan for exempting the transitional government from the restrictions soon.
| "I mean, everybody's got guns but us!" |
Both Duale and deputy ambassador Idd Beddel Mohamed said the embargo also prevents the government from protecting its borders and waters. "The Somali problem is no longer a Somali problem," Mohamed said, pointing to the pirate attack Saturday against a cruise ship carrying Western tourists off Somalia's coast. |