Somalian embargo ended?

US efforts to boost the fragile authority of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) will intensify this week as the UN Security Council debates Washington’s proposal to ease the country’s arms embargo and allow the deployment of a regional peace-keeping force in Baidoa, seat of the TFG.

Tensions have escalated during the two weeks since a UN report on violations of the arms embargo accused Ethiopia and Eritrea and others of selling arms either to the TFG or the Council of Somali Islamic Courts (CSIC) -- which since June has taken de facto control over most of the south.

Washington is keen to contain the perceived threat to regional security from the CSIC, factions of which have been linked to international terrorism. Yet the weakening of the already porous embargo and the deployment of peacekeepers is likely to escalate rather than ease tensions. The presence of Ethiopian troops in support of the TFG has already provided a key rallying point for the CSIC; an expanded, internationally authorised force would feed nationalist support for the Courts and resentment of the TFG, bringing the country closer to open conflict.