Sun. Oct 16, 2005 | Somaaljecel: By Mukhtar M. Ibrahim

In January 2005, I wrote an article entitled ‘Guilty Conscious or Just Business’. The article probed the motive and role of Yemen government within the context of Somali affairs. Here is an extract from the article: “At the swearing ceremony of the newly elected president, Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was the only Arab leader who was present at the inauguration in Nairobi. Mr Yusuf, President of Somalia, paid state visit to Yemen less than a month after he came to power. Ahmed Al-Basha, Head of the African Department at Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, ‘In the past, Yemen has repeatedly asked the Arab League to help a government in Somalia establish peace, create a democratic government and rebuild the country’.”

The article acknowledged the warm welcome that Yemen had expressed but questioned if there was a hidden agenda in the face of Yemen’s outward brotherliness, “At present, it seems that Yemen has the interest of Somalia at heart. However, when one looks back how Yemen behaved in the past the evidence could not be in more contrast to what Al-Basha said. The facts show how Yemen has contributed to the destruction of Somalia, especially how it has exported arms to Somalia despite the UN arms embargo and how it has ill-treated refugees from Somalia. Therefore, one cannot fail to wonder whether Yemen is supporting this government to load off of its guilty conscious or just for business, so it can supply more army hardware to Somalia, but this time legally.”

The article concluded, “If Yemen is desirous of supporting Somalia, its words must match its actions. Or the words of Saleh, “We are profoundly concerned about the stability and recovery of this country. On this occasion, we assert our solid stand in supporting it and consolidating with the Somali people in every aspect related to security”, will always be considered a great line to deliver more arms and ammunitions to Somalia.”

Almost nine months after I wrote that article, a UN panel of experts monitoring a weapons embargo on Somalia delivered the verdict, in which they filed Yemen as a violator of the ban imposed in 1992. Selling arms is just business for Yemen. It seems that Yemen’s attitude is: sell arms to anyone who is willing and able to purchase. In short, Yemen ships weapons and ammunition to Somalia, where demand and prices are much higher. Surely, Saudi Arabia and Oman are not keen to buy weapons from Yemen. This means Somalia is the only market available to Yemen.

According to the Monitoring Group’s report, when the UN panel of experts confronted the Yemen government, the administration in Yemen admitted sending weapons to Somalia and said, “The aid was supplied to and at the request of the legitimate elected Government, which has received international endorsement.” Alas! Yemen forgot that it had delivered weapons to Abdiqasim government. A report of the Panel of Experts on Somalia submitted to the Security Council Committee in 2003 said, “Yemen provided a small amount of military assistance to the Transitional National Government, soon after it was established at the Arta Conference in Djibouti.” Yemen also sold weapons to other groups in Somalia. Sadly, failing to respect the UN arms embargo by the Yemen and other countries mean weapons sold by them are used to slaughter Somali civilians, violate basic human rights and destroy many lives.

Reading the latest Monitoring Group’s report particularly the arms purchases and sales shows that Somalia is still nose-diving towards anarchy. Unfortunately, this has been the case since the civil war broke out. Throughout the conflict not less than 500,000 lives have been lost but the race to import arms has not even been put on pause. Almost a year after Siad Barre was violently overthrown, the UN could not continue providing lukewarm aid. Therefore, on January 23rd 1992, it adopted a resolution that imposed a general and complete embargo on all deliveries of weapons and military equipment to Somalia. It was expected that the resolution would frustrate or plug up the arms supply to the region. Perplexingly, 13 years after the resolution was passed, Somalia is not short of heavy weapons and small arms that are the tools of death and destruction.

Over a decade, the UN feigned to be mystified and fell short to pinpoint the violators of the arms embargo. While the UN was dithering Somalis were dying in large numbers. However, the latest report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia is an encouraging sign as it names the first time violators of the UN arms embargo. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that naming and shaming is not good enough if those who have violated the embargo are not held accountable.

Oddly, those who violate the arms embargo in the dark pretend to care for Somalia ills in the light. In June 2005, Yemen hosted talks to end a bitter dispute between Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and parliament speaker Sharif Hassan while Yemen’s weapons were reaching the supporters of both men. Even those who cannot buy arms directly from Yemen use other means to buy Yemen’s arms and ammunitions. The report says, “Sharia courts purchased the arms from Yemen (arms-trading network) via traders at Bakaraha Arms Market (BAM).”

It is indubitable that the ultimate responsibility rests on the shoulders of Somalis who buy weapons to use against their people. However, Yemen argues that it wants “to strengthen security so that the President can move to Mogadishu, the capital” but that cannot be achieved by arming different groups in Somalia. If Yemen wants to strengthen the grip of the government on power, it must support the government to receive wider political legitimacy and that can only happen when there is a social solidarity and fewer arms available to the various groups and factions.

Mohamed Mukhtar

London

Email:  mohamed323@hotmail.com