S/2021/207 Security Council

I have the honour to enclose herewith a copy of the briefing provided by Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland, in her capacity as Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992), concerning Somalia, in connection with the video-teleconference on “The situation in Somalia” convened on Thursday, 25 February 2021. In accordance with the procedure set out in the letter dated 7 May 2020 by the President of the Security Council addressed to Permanent Representatives of the members of the Council (S/2020/372), which was agreed in the light of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic, this briefing will be issued as a document of the Security Council.

As mandated by paragraph 11 (g) of resolution 1844 (2008), I have the honour to brief the Security Council in my capacity as Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992), concerning Somalia. This briefing will cover the period from 29 October 2020 to 25 February 2021. This is the first Chair’s briefing since the adoption of resolution 2551 (2020), on 12 November 2020. Under that resolution, the Council renewed the partial lifting of the arms embargo and the humanitarian exemption to the assets freeze, without subjecting them to an end date. It also eased some of the requirements of the partial lifting, reaffirmed the improvised explosive device (IED) components ban and added to the list of components, as well as renewed the mandate of the Panel of Experts on Somalia until 15 December 2021. Following the adoption of the resolution, six Panel members were appointed by the Secretary-General on 11 December 2020. In resolution 2551 (2020), the Council also requested the Panel of Experts to continue exchanging information about Al-Shabaab’s finances with the Federal Government of Somalia and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It also requested them to continue to work with stakeholders to develop a plan to disrupt Al-Shabaab’s finances. During its first virtual meeting of this year, which was held by closed video- teleconference on 29 January, the Committee met with the members of the Panel of Experts to hear about their work programme for 2021. Recalling that in 2020 the Panel focused on rebuilding a positive working relationship with the Federal Government of Somalia, the Coordinator informed that the Panel remained actively engaged with the Federal Government of Somalia in projects both in Mogadishu and in the federal member states. Several Committee members commended the progress in the relationship between the Panel and the Federal Government of Somalia since last year and hoped that it would continue to be strengthened. Committee members also expressed appreciation for the Panel’s work towards disrupting Al-Shabaab’s finances. During the reporting period, the Committee received two monthly updates from the Panel of Experts mandated by resolution 2498 (2019). The Committee also received two letters from Member States. One pertained to arms embargo exemption issues, to which the Committee responded. The other concerned the final report of the Panel submitted under its previous mandate, on which consideration is still ongoing. I will next summarize some statistics with regard to arms embargo exemption requests and notifications. Prior to the adoption of resolution 2551 (2020), the Committee received an advance delivery notification and a post-delivery notification from the Federal Government of Somalia, pursuant to paragraphs 11, 13 and 16 of resolution 2498 (2019). Following the adoption of resolution 2551 (2020), the Committee approved an exemption request and received five advance notifications and one post-delivery notification, all from the Federal Government of Somalia, pursuant to 10, 11, 13 and 16 of the same resolution. The Committee also received eight advance delivery notifications from supplying Member States or international organizations in accordance with paragraphs 11, 14 and 17 of resolution 2551 (2020).Lastly, the Committee received a copy of the Federal Government of Somalia’s biannual report to the Security Council pursuant to paragraph 37 of resolution 2551 (2020) on the structure, composition, strength and disposition of its security forces and on the status of regional and militia forces.