Somali FM urges lifting of UN arms embargo

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar Friday urged the UN to lift a 17-year arms embargo to help Somali forces properly equip in their bid to defeat hardline Islamist fighters.Newly-appointed Omaar also pleaded for the immediate reinforcement of the African Union mission (AMISOM) propping up his wobbly transitional government.He hailed the integration of transitional government troops and a faction of the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) into the Joint Security Forces (JSF)following UN-brokered reconciliation talks in Djibouti last year."If the JSF is to be equipped by the international community to partner with AMISOM and to secure peace, the embargo on the government has to be re-addressed," he added."The JSF is not funded, resources or equipped up to now. Yet it is the essential partner of AMISOM for peacekeeping."The UN Security Council embargo imposed in January 1992 has been constantly violated with weapons mainly coming from Yemen and financed by Eritrea as well as Arab and Islamic donors, according to a recent UN report...http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090320/wl_afp/somaliaunrestun_20090320203910