Jamhuuriyada Soomaaliya Ergada Joogtada ah ee Qaramada Midoobay

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Press Release

Somalia Mission to the UN

Press Release No 4-2002

Recent statements made by warlord Hussein Aideed alledging arms shipments to the TNG are false and baseless. It is an attempt to take credit for TNG’s initiative to the Security Council to enforce the arms embargo on Somalia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somalia Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim in his address to the Security Council on March 11, 2002 requested the Council to reactivate the Sanctions Committee established under Security Council Resolution (733) of 1992. The Somali Foreign Affairs Minister proposed as a matter of urgency the enforcement of the sanctions regime in Somalia by the creation of a panel of experts/monitors as a mechanism for enforcement. The request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs which received wide support in the Security Council is aimed to stop the illegal arms flow from a neighboring country which continues to arm the warlords and flood Somalia with all kinds of weapons.

The TNG is not interested in arming itself. On the contrary, we have repeatedly asked the international community to assist us in the disarmament and demobilization of our own militias. We have also asked the Libyan Government to fund the purchase of weapons from the militias in Mogadishu to which Libya has most graciously agreed to. We have adequately briefed the UN on this issue.

Neither Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti nor any other Arab country supplies arms to the TNG. The same applies to Eritrea.

Those who propagate these false accusations suffer from chronic Arabphobia.

New York, March 19, 2002