UN's Somalia Arms Embargo Reporting Fiasco Cries Out for Reform, Experts Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- When do UN-imposed arms embargoes work, and when and why do they not work? The most blatantly failed embargo has been that on Somalia, technically in place since 1992. A panel of experts has reported on more than half a dozen nations flaunting the embargo; they have gone further and reported, without sourcing, that Somalis were being trained in Lebanon. Despite repeated requests to take journalists' questions when they were in New York at UN Headquarters, the experts never have. Monday Inner City Press asked two experts about the Somali embargo reporting fiasco. Siemon Wezeman of the Stockhold International Peace Research Institute agreed that the panel's Somalia reports have been "dubious," have referenced weapons systems that don't exist, or that couldn't credibly be used in the country. (For this, Wezeman cited SA 7 surface-to-air missile.)

            Asked how these experts are chosen, Wezeman described the process as "political," including a predilection to choose "experts" who don't complain when they are not given sufficient resources to actually monitor an embargo.

            Peter Wallensteen of Uppsala University faulted a system in which even when expertise is collected, it is dissipated at the end of each project. Wallensteen called for all monitoring reports to be published, and placed in a UN database. The process, it seems clear, would benefit from more transparency, and accountability for the information included (and not included) in particular embargo reports.

Arms in Somalia, embargo and experts not shown

   Things could start with making the "experts" available for press questions.  On Somalia, the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General previously suggested that Inner City Press contact the members of the group monitoring the UN's Somalia arms embargo. Group member Joel Salek confirmed receipt of Inner City Press' request, but said he would "give floor to Bruno [Schiemsky], the Chairman of our Group, to answer your questions." Time passed, Inner City Press sent a second request. Mr. Schiemsky responded, "Sorry, at this stage I have no comments. I need first to brief the Sanctions Committee" of the Security Council. And after that, no answers were ever given.

    Wezeman and Wallensteen were two of the authors of the new report, "UN Arms Embargoes: Their Impacts on Arms Flows and Target Behavior," available through this site. Their UN press conference Monday was, sadly, scantly attended, but the report is timely and, one hopes, will be heard.

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Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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