At least five people were killed when militiamen ambushed a convy in central Somalia and seized heavy weapons the local government and residents said on Tuesday,seven months after decades long arms embargo was lifted.
The convoy was travelling on Monday with a security escort near the town of abudwaq when militiamen from local clan attacked and overpowered security forces,four residents told reauters.
They said the arms wich included machine guns,anti air craft weapons and rocket propelled grenedes originated in neighbouring Ethiopia.
“It is unfortunate that five people died from both sides yesterday over weapons,”said ahmed shire a security adviser to the president of galmudug state,where abudwaq is located.”We understand the weopons fell in to the hands of civilians.”
Rashid abdi,an analyst with the sahan research thin tank called the incidenta”the single most serious incident of arms proliferation in central Somalia and said some of the weapons would likely be bougth by al shababa,an al Qaeda affiliate.
Writing on X,abdi said it was a ‘clear case of why lifting of arms embargo on Somalia was big strategic mistake.”
The last restrictions under an arms embargo that had been in place in some form,for more than 30 years were fully lifted by the U,N security council in december.
Somalia’s government said the move would allow it to confront security threats and build up its national forces.
The country has been confronting an insurgency by al Shabab for nearly two decades.
African union peacekeepers are drawing down their presence to hand over greay responsibility to Somalia forces,but the AU and Mogadishu government have warned of possible security vacuum if that happens too quickly.
Clan based militias have fougth alongside government forces in a military campaign against al Shabab in central Somalia.They have also turned their weapons on one another in disputes over land and resources.
Source:reuters