MOGADISHU, Somalia – In what aims to degrade Somalia-based Al-Shabaab, the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] slapped three Al-Shabaab operatives with sanctions, following the latest coordinated efforts to end militant domination in parts of Somalia.
The chairman of the Security Council sanctions regime on Monday announced a measure intended to help the Somali federal government fight the militants, who control large swathes of rural areas in central and southern Somalia, but have steadily continued to lose ground. ground.
She added that these three individuals occupy various positions within the armed group. The decision was made on Monday, and individuals will serve those sanctions immediately in all United Nations member countries around the world.
She also noted that the committee had received the full mid-term update from the Somalia Expert Group on May 14 and discussed its content in a second informal virtual meeting on June 4.
This is not the first time that the Security Council has targeted activists with such sanctions. In the past, since most of these activists are fugitives, have been sanctioned but sometimes they continue to change their identity or nationality, which makes it difficult to trace them.
During that meeting, she said, the group’s interim coordinator, who was appointed following the coordinator’s resignation on April 27, 2021, highlighted four key areas of the mid-year update. the group’s journey – the continued threat posed by Al-Shabaab, including the use of improvised explosive devices; violations of international humanitarian law; ongoing investigations into the group’s finances; the management of weapons and ammunition by the federal government; and the ban on the export of charcoal from the country.
All members of the committee, she added, welcomed the work of the group on Al-Shabaab finances, expressed concern over reported violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, and noted that effective arms and ammunition management procedures instituted by the federal government were essential to prevent them from falling into the hands of Al-Shabaab and a faction of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The committee is currently reviewing the six recommendations contained in the panel’s mid-term update, including the idea of a consultation process with the federal government on the requirements of the arms embargo regime, he said. -she reported.
But their names have not yet been made public, until full protocols are implemented. Some of the key leaders who have come under sanctions include Bashir Qorgab, who was killed in an airstrike from the US Africa Command last year, Mahad Karate, the financial controller, and the head of Al- Shabaab Ahmed Omar.
The group continues to wreak havoc in the country and across the border, Tuesday’s attack on a military training center in Mogadishu being the deadliest attack in recent months. The group also reportedly raided another military base in Lower Shabelle on Monday evening.
AXADLETM
