“Abudwaq Incident”: Highlighting Flaws in the Premature Lifting of Arms Embargo on Somalia

“Abudwaq Incident”: Highlighting Flaws in the Premature Lifting of Arms Embargo on Somalia

Seven months after an arms embargo that lasted for decades was relaxed, the local administration and villagers said on Tuesday that militiamen in central Somalia had attacked a convoy and taken heavy weaponry, killing at least five people.Four neighbors told Reuters that on Monday, while the convoy was moving close to the town of Abudwaq with a police escort, militiamen from a nearby clan attacked and overran security forces.
They claimed that the armaments, which came from neighboring Ethiopia, were machine guns, anti-aircraft weaponry, and rocket-propelled grenades.

This shipment of arms from Ethiopia shows that the Hassan Sheikh Muhamud-led Somali government actually maintains close ties with the Ethiopian government, although publicly exhibits negative image of their relationship and accuses PM Abiy Ahmed of interfering with Somali domestic affairs after singing MoU with Somaliland.

Paradoxically, according to a news release from the Somali Internal Security Ministry, these weapons were brought into the nation illegally by a group of Galmudug-based businessmen before being apprehended by the country’s security services.

However, the question is how these weapon stockpiles ended up in the hands of the Abudwaq local militia, if that is the case and the information in the press release is accurate?

Ahmed Shire – the security adviser of the president of Galmudug State, where Abudwaq is located, said over the looted weapons: “It is regrettable that five people died from both sides yesterday”. “We understand the weapons fell into the hands of civilians.”

The episode has been dubbed “the single most serious incident of arms proliferation in central Somalia” by analyst Rashid Abdi of the think tank Sahan Research. He also predicted that some of the guns were probably purchased by al Shabaab, an affiliate of al Qaeda.

Writing on X, Abdi said it was a “clear case of why lifting of arms embargo on Somalia was big strategic mistake”.

#ALERT more updates on looted weapons in Abudwaq Somalia

Thread

Arms market in central Somalia flooded with cheap AK-47s looted from two lorries ferrying weapons to pro-government militia Macawiisley.

AK prices at Abudwaq market today 400 USD (in Mogadishu 1400 USD) pic.twitter.com/PXs0z6tE81

— Rashid Abdi (@RAbdiAnalyst) July 16, 2024

The U.N. Security Council completely abolished the last limitations under an arms embargo that had been in effect, albeit in a different form, for more than 30 years in December 2023. The UN Security Council resolution, according to Somalia’s leadership, would enable it to strengthen its national forces and counter security threats, but this incident in Abudwaq clearly showed otherwise.

“Lifting the arms embargo for Somalia was a big mistake because the country is divided and fragmented,” according to Saeed Deni – the president of Somali member state Puntland. Puntland, a semi-autonomous area of Somalia, is requesting that the UN reimpose an arms embargo that was lifted seven months ago, claiming that increased access to weapons is escalating clan warfare.

Having been an outspoken advocate of Somali Irredentism and a staunch opponent of Somaliland’s efforts to maintain the arms embargo on Somalia, Garowe Online now calls the UN decision a catastrophic miscalculation, as it wrote on its X platform:

📝 LIFTING THE ARMS EMBARGO ON SOMALIA AGAIN: A GRAVE MISTAKE.

It’s a grave mistake to lift the arms embargo on a country without a unified legal and political government. A nation that cannot secure its borders or govern its territories; where its people are not in agreement.… pic.twitter.com/FaW8goyJ1B

— GAROWE ONLINE (@GaroweOnline) July 16, 2024

In the central Somali region, government forces and clan-based militias have engaged in combat against al Shabaab. In conflicts over resources and territory, they have also used their weapons on one another.

For almost 20 years, the rebel group Al Shabaab has ruled and continues to rule over a large portion of Somalia. In order to give the feeble Somali forces more authority, African Union soldiers are reducing their presence. However, if this happens too rapidly, the AU and the regional nations have warned of potential security gaps.

Somaliland also joined the voices in the Horn of Africa denouncing the unfortunate proliferation of weapons in Somalia. The government of Somaliland “expresses grave concern over the alarming escalation of arms proliferation in Somalia,” according to a statement issued recently by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.