President urges lifting of arms embargo

The President of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, has appealed for the lifting of the UN arms embargo against Somalia on the grounds that it is hampering his government's efforts to maintain law and order in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa state.

"The embargo directly undermines the government's inherent right and genuine effort of forming its national security force that would protect the public and keep the peace by enforcing the law and order throughout Somalia," Yusuf said on Saturday as he addressed the UN General Assembly in New York.

The president suggested that sanctions targeted at individuals would do more to foster peace and stability in Somalia, the UN News Service reported on Saturday. He called on the UN to establish "punitive and targeted sanctions" against those attempting to sabotage the country's chances of lasting peace.

"It does not make any sense to the rational mind to help Somalis reach a comprehensive political settlement for their long conflict, while at the same time denying them the ability to build the institutions through which they would overcome the lawlessness in their country," he said.

The interim president further urged the international community to provide the necessary financial and political support to the government. He noted that Somalia needed help to implement demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration programmes and to deal with other security concerns.

The UN imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in 1992, when civil war broke out following the collapse of the government of President Siyad Barre in 1991. After 14 years without a functional central authority, the current Transitional Federal Institutions were established in October 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya, with Yusuf as President.