Share & more
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named a three-member panel of experts to investigate violations of the arms embargo on Somalia. The UN imposed the embargo in 1992, following the outbreak of civil war in Somalia.
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Wednesday, that Annan "recently informed the Security Council that he has appointed three people to serve as a panel of experts to acquire information on violations of the UN arms embargo on Somalia and consider practical steps for implementing those sanctions".
The experts he named are Ernst Jan Hogendoorn of the Netherlands, Mohamed Abdoulaye M’Backe of Senegal and Brynjulf Mugaas of Norway.
The UN Security Council approved the establishment of a panel to gather information on violations of the embargo in a resolution unanimously adopted on 22 July, in which it asked Annan to set up a "three-person panel within one month". The panel will be based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and operate from there for a period of six months.
Under this resolution, the panel would "pursue all relevant sources", including states, international law enforcement bodies, NGOs, financial institutions and the business community.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
