UN monitors accuse Somali government of diverting weapons

Somali soldiers walk near the car wreckage of a suicide bomber in Mogadishu, Somali on Thursday. Al-Shabab, Somalia's most lethal militant group claimed responsibility, boasting that the attack had killed U.N. personnel.

U.N. experts monitoring the partial lifting of an arms embargo on Somalia are accusing the government of “high level and systematic abuses” which have allowed weapons and ammunition to beef up its security forces to get into the hands of clan leaders, warlords and al-Shabab militants.

The experts recommended that the U.N. Security Council re-impose a full arms embargo when the 12-month partial suspension ends in early March. As a possible alternative, it said the government must be subject to enhanced notification and reporting requirements for arms deliveries, “if not a partial tightening”.

A 13-page letter from the experts monitoring sanctions against Somalia and Eritrea, obtained on Friday by the

Associated Press , details a number of incidents of weapons being diverted from the government including one to an al-Shabab leader.