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Security Council sanctions committee to visit Somalia in bid to boost arms ban

Security Council sanctions committee to visit Somalia in bid to boost arms ban

Members of the United Nations Security Council committee overseeing sanctions against Somalia will visit the area next month in a bid to boost enforcement of the arms embargo.

The two-week trip is slated to begin 12 October and will include experts from all 15 Council members. The group, led by the Chairman of the committee, Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, plans to visit Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen and, provided that security conditions permit, Somalia itself, according to a news release.

The group is expected to check on the capacity of the States in the region to implement the arms embargo and monitor their land, air and sea boundaries and to encourage them to give the sanctions the force of law in each of their countries.

They will also be asking all the States for ideas on how to take practical and concrete steps to strengthen the embargo, the news release said.