AU Sanctions against Somali Militants

(PANA)--African Union (AU)’s top security organ, the peace and security council (PSC), has asked for a speedy conclusion of a sanctions list targeting groups and individuals troubling the Somali government so that the sanctions could be enforced.

The PSC, which met on Thursday for a special session on Somalia, asked the AU Commission chairperson Jean Ping to speed up the conclusion of a sanctions list specifically targeting groups that have been opposed to the Somali peace efforts. This suggests that groups like the militant Al Shabab, which has vowed to continue attacks against the Burundian and the Ugandan troops in Somalia, could be the target of the new sanctions that would be aimed at curbing personal freedoms.

The PSC said in a statement issued at the end of its 177th session that the AU Commission should complete the preparation of the list of individuals, groups and entities against whom the sanctions should apply and design the implementation plan.

Somalia’s former President Abdullahi Yusuf quit in a huff in December, days after the regional group, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministers, agreed to unilaterally impose targeted sanctions against him. ‘The Council requests the Commission, working closely with the relevant stakeholders including the United Nations, to establish a list of individuals and entities against whom the sanctions are to be imposed and the modalities of enforcing these sanctions’, it said.

The Somali militants attacked Burundian troops in Somalia on 22 February, killing 11 soldiers and wounding five others seriously. Despite angry condemnation of the attacks by the AU and others, the Al Shabab, the group which claimed responsibility for the attacks, later vowed to continue its attacks against the Burundian and the Ugandan troops.

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