NEW YORK (Kaab TV) – The United Nations has called on Somalia to submit its overdue National Report to the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 Committee, marking Somalia as one of only eight countries worldwide that has yet to fulfill this critical obligation.
The report is essential to outlining the measures the Somali government is taking to prevent non-state actors, including terrorist organizations, from obtaining weapons of mass destruction (WMD), such as biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear weapons.
This obligation also includes addressing materials that could be used to produce such weapons, which can be found in most countries.
Of the 193 UN member states, 185 have already submitted their reports, including the majority of African countries.
Somalia, however, remains among a small group of countries that have yet to submit their first report—almost 20 years after UNSCR 1540 was adopted in 2004.
The other countries that have failed to submit their reports include North Korea, The Gambia, Eswatini, Mauritania, Chad, Mali, and Guinea.
FAILURE TO COMPLY
The failure to comply comes at a time when Somalia faces an escalating arms crisis. The Somali government, mainly restricted to the capital, Mogadishu, has struggled with widespread corruption, nepotism, and dysfunction, weakening its institutions.
In July 2024, clan militias looted a cache of illicit arms in central Somalia, while Al-Shabaab reportedly accessed large shipments of weapons and explosives through arms dealers in Yemen, as ties between the group and the Houthi militia grew.
Corrupt Somali officials have also been implicated in facilitating arms sales that benefit both rival clan militias and militants.
The involvement of security officials with ties to Islamist groups, or those who have recently defected from Al-Shabaab, makes enforcing accountability and transparency in Somalia’s security services exceptionally difficult.
“This lack of clear separation between government institutions and militant networks creates a serious challenge, not only in terms of preventing terrorist access to weapons but also in building trust in Somalia’s ability to comply with international obligations like UNSCR 1540,” says Mohamud Nur, who studies security and terrorist groups in the region.
The infiltration of militant influences into the security apparatus adds to the complex situation where corruption and divided loyalties undermine efforts to prevent the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by non-state actors.
Last week, the UNSCR 1540 Committee Chair reiterated the importance of complying with the resolution, stressing, “Resolution 1540 calls upon States to present reports to the Committee on steps they have taken or intend to take to implement the resolution. To date, 185 Member States have submitted reports, leaving eight States still to do so.”
The Chair added that the Committee reached out to non-reporting countries in 2023 and 2024, offering assistance to ensure compliance.
Somalia’s Ministry of Interior, Internal Security, and the Office of the National Security Advisor have declined to comment on the matter.
The full statement by the UNSCR 1540 Committee Chair can be found here.