Heavy weaponry taken by Somali militias following convoy looting

Seven months after an arms embargo that lasted for decades was relaxed, the local administration and villagers said on Tuesday that militiamen in central Somalia had attacked a convoy and taken heavy weaponry, killing at least five people.

Four neighbors told Reuters that on Monday, while the convoy was traveling close to the town of Abudwaq with a security escort, militiamen from a nearby tribe launched an attack and defeated security personnel.

They claimed that the armaments, which came from Ethiopia, a neighboring country, included machine guns, anti-aircraft weaponry, and rocket-propelled grenades.

The president of Galmudug State, where Abudwaq is located, has a security adviser named Ahmed Shire. “It is regrettable that five people died from both sides yesterday over weapons,” Shire stated. “We understand the weapons fell into the hands of civilians.”

The episode has been dubbed “the single most serious incident of arms proliferation in central Somalia” by analyst Rashid Abdi of the think tank Sahan Research. He also predicted that some of the guns were probably purchased by al Shabaab, an affiliate of al Qaeda.

Abdi wrote on X, stating that it was a “clear case of why lifting of arms embargo on Somalia was big strategic mistake”.

The U.N. Security Council completely eliminated the last limitations under an arms embargo that had been in effect, albeit in different forms, for more than 30 years in December.

The government of Somalia said that by taking this action, it would be able to strengthen its armed forces and counter security threats.

For almost 20 years, the nation has been dealing with an al Shabaab insurgency. In order to give Somali forces more authority, African Union peacekeepers are reducing their presence, but the government in Mogadishu and the AU have cautioned that if this happens too rapidly, there may be a security vacuum.

In the central Somali region, government forces and clan-based militias have engaged in combat against al Shabaab. In conflicts over resources and territory, they have also used their weapons on one another.