[Al Arabiya Latest] The United States is sending weapons to Somalia's government to thwart Islamist insurgents, who reportedly chopped off the hands and feet of thieves and paraded the severed limbs in the streets of Mogadishu, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
While the United Nations has had a long-standing arms embargo on Somalia, a May Security Council resolution urged member states to train and equip government security forces --as long as a U.N. embargo monitoring committee had no objections.
" The prospect of the government collapsing is sending alarm bells ringing in Western capitals, but whether this latest move will succeed remains to be seen "
Rashid Abdi, analyst at International Crisis Group |
"It's confirmed. They received approval from the U.N. Security Council," an international security source said.
Another foreign security source said weapons had come into Somalia for the government via Uganda, which provides half the 4,300 African Union troops protecting key sites in Mogadishu.
"The prospect of the government collapsing is sending alarm bells ringing in Western capitals, but whether this latest move will succeed remains to be seen," said Rashid Abdi, analyst at International Crisis Group.
Now, there's some insightful analysis. We need more like that.
"Going further than providing arms to actually sending in more foreign forces would be a mistake," he said. "The government would then play right into the hands of the militants, who would accuse them of accepting foreign meddling." |