UNSC to discuss Somalia as Mohamud pushes for lifting of arms embargo

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will convene on Thursday at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss the situation in Somalia, according to UNSOM.

The newly appointed UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Somaloa Catriona Laing will be among those briefing the council.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who is on an official visit to the US, will also speak to the council and is expected to make his case for the lifting of UNSC arms embargo imposed on Somalia since 1992 after the country was plunged into civil war.

During his meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin at the Pentagon, Mohamud briefed him of his country’s progress in the fight against Al-Shabaab militants and thanked Washington for its support in the offensive against the terror group.

“We are again and again very grateful for the support provided by the United States. Many issues that I have raised with you last time when I visited here [are] still standing. But so far, we are so good, and we are very much satisfied for the level of support provided. I thank you,” Mohamud said.

For his part, Austin said he was “encouraged to hear of the continued success of the current phase of Somali-led operation against Al-Shabaab in central Somalia.”

He underscored the importance of cooperation in the offensive and reiterated his country’s readiness to stand with the Somalis as they themselves “against these dangerous and violent forces.”

The Somali leader’s call for the lifting of arms embargo comes at a crucial moment as the African Union begins a scale down of its troops in Somalia and as Somalia’s security forces are bracing themselves to takeover the security of the country.

The call also comes amid massive military gains made by the government against the terror group after pushing it out of swathes of territories in south and central Somalia.

The government sees the lifting of the arms embargo as key in consolidating these gains and liberating other territories still under Al-Shabaab rule.