S/PV.9157 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2022/754, which contains the text of a letter dated 10 October 2022 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia addressed to the President of the Security Council, and document S/2022/766, which contains the text of a letter dated 15 October 2022 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia addressed to the President of the Security Council. At this meeting, the Council will hear a briefing by Ambassador Fergal Tomas Mythen, Permanent Representative of Ireland, in his capacity as Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia. I now give the floor to Ambassador Mythen. Mr. Mythen: 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, covering the period from 22 June to 19 October 2022. At the outset, I would like to note that, since my previous briefing to the Council (see S/PV.9071), the members of the Committee have met twice in informal consultations. On 7 October, they met to receive a presentation from the Panel of Experts on Somalia on its final report and to discuss the recommendations contained therein. The report was subsequently transmitted to the Council and issued as document S/2022/754. On 14 October, Committee members met to hear briefings by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on the report of the Emergency Relief Coordinator and by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Panel of Experts also participated in those briefings as an observer. The report of the Emergency Relief Coordinator was also subsequently transmitted to the Council and issued as document S/2022/766. In his remarks on 7 October, the Coordinator of the Panel of Experts provided an update on recent developments in Somalia since the submission to the Committee of the Panel’s final report in early September. He informed the Committee of the work conducted by the Panel on weapons and ammunition management, developing a disruption plan on weapons and ammunition captured from Al-Shabaab, and the charcoal previously carried from Somalia by the vessel MV Fox, in violation of the charcoal ban, and seized and offloaded by Omani authorities. In its final report, the Panel made 18 recommendations. Six are addressed to the Security Council and 12 to the Committee. The Committee is currently considering the recommendations addressed to it. The OCHA briefing of 14 October focused on the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Somalia and on any impediments thereto. The Deputy Director of OCHA’s Operations and Advocacy Division, after describing the exacerbated humanitarian and protection crises in Somalia, underlined the importance of the humanitarian carve-out and its reaffirmation by the Council. The UNODC briefing on the same date covered two issues within the framework of resolution 2607 (2021), namely, maritime security and countering the financing of terrorism in Somalia. The UNODC representatives covered, inter alia, the topics of illegal fishing, the violation of the charcoal ban and disruption of Al-Shabaab’s revenue streams. They also presented various recommendations to address their findings. During the reporting period, the Committee received two thematic reports from the Panel of Experts. One report covered the violation of the charcoal ban by the vessel MV Fox. The other dealt with humanitarian assistance in Al-Shabaab controlled areas. The Committee also communicated with Member States on various matters. It sent letters to Somalia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Bulgaria and Australia in connection with the recommendations contained in the Panel’s comprehensive midterm update. Furthermore, the Committee sent letters to Oman and South Africa in connection with recommendations contained in the Panel’s thematic report on the charcoal ban violation by the vessel MV Fox and it responded to a letter from Somalia on the topic of the same charcoal. I will now summarize the statistics with regard to arms embargo exemption requests and notifications. The Committee received three advance delivery notifications referencing paragraph 24 of resolution2607 (2021), with the same items being notified both by the Federal Government of Somalia and the supplying State in one instance. Furthermore, it received six notifications pursuant to paragraph 27 of resolution 2607 (2021). The Committee also received one notification without reference to a specific paragraph of the resolution. With respect to the arms embargo, I would also like to note that the Committee received the second biannual report of the Federal Government of Somalia pursuant to paragraph 44 of resolution 2607 (2021). Since this is not only my first but also very likely my last briefing to the Council as Chair of the Committee, I would like to conclude by thanking the members of the Committee for the cooperation they have extended to me since I assumed the role of Chair last August.