Somalia hails seizure of arms ship by French navy

Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has hailed the interception of a ship full of weapons by the French naval forces patrolling Indian Ocean which they said was heading towards Somalia on Tuesday.

Security officials suspect the ship was ferrying caches of weapons for the Al-Qaeda linked Al Shabab  group which is fighting Somali government and the African Union forces supporting it in the horn of Africa nation.

“It’s a good news that the French navy seized that ship which was carrying illegal arms for the anti-peace elements.” Mr, Mohamud said in a statement issued on Tuesday evening.

The seizure of the arms ship by the French naval forces come barely two weeks after Australian navy forces on a warship also seized a fishing boat carrying a large weapons cache which Somali government said was also  meant for the Al Shabab group.

Somalia still remains under an arms embargo which was imposed by the United Nations Security Council in 1992 to stop flows of illegal arms to the country.

Despite complaints by Somali government that the arms embargo is preventing the establishment of an effective Somali army in the face of al Shabab’s ongoing war, UN officials blocked multiple efforts by the western backed government to apply arms deliveries.

Last year, the Security Council extended the arms embargo on Somalia until 15 November 2016, a move which further dashed renewed hopes of lifting the decades old arms sanction on the country.