NY (SD) – The UN Security Council on Monday extended arms embargo on Somalia’s regime for a year amid the horn of African nation.

The council which voted 12-2 with Russia and China abstaining on resolution 2607 (2021) also imposed other tough sanctions on Eritrea in 2009 for supplying weapons to al-Shabab rebels in Somalia and for refusing to resolve a border dispute with Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa. It lifted the sanctions on Eritrea in November 2018.

The council kept in place the arms embargo on the sale or resale of weapons and military equipment to Somali forces, a ban on the sale or shipment to Somalia of components used to manufacture improvised explosive devices that al-Shabab is increasingly using, and a ban on the export of charcoal, once a key money-earner for the country.

In extending sanctions, the Council said Somalia’s state rebuilding had been hijacked by al-Shabaab, including infiltration in local institutions.

 It says the group must be targeted beyond the land as they have also exploited “maritime flows” and trafficked in licit and illicit goods that may finance terrorist activities in Somalia.

The council also expresses concern about the ability of al-Shabaab to exploit the trade in sugar, which is part of the source of their finances.

It further notes that al-Shabaab continues to be the main perpetrator in the rising recruitment of children and abductions.