UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Security Council adopted two resolutions on Dec. 1 to lift the embargo on the Somali Federation and extend sanctions against the Somali Al-Shabaab.
On the same day, the Security Council adopted resolutions 2713 and 2714, respectively, concerning the extension of sanctions against Al-Shabaab and the lifting of the embargo on the Somali Federation, and urged the Somali Federation to continue to strengthen its ammunition management.
Dai Bing, deputy permanent representative of China to the United Nations, said in his explanatory remarks after the adoption of the two resolutions that China had voted in favour of the two draft resolutions. China welcomes the fact that, at the request of the Somali Federation and some members of the Security Council, these two resolutions have substantively lifted the embargo on the Somali Federation and strengthened sanctions against Al-Shabaab in Somalia. China believes that Somalia will take this opportunity to strengthen its security capacity-building, improve its ammunition management, and actively carry out counter-terrorism operations, so as to inject new impetus into maintaining stability.
Dai Bing said that it should be pointed out that the resolution still requires the Somali Federation to submit an import list to the Security Council, and such restrictive measures constitute an unnecessary obstacle to the Somali Federation's ability to strengthen its security capacity, and it is still necessary to improve and perfect. At the same time, the resolution continues to grant special exemptions to the imports of military units from certain Western countries in Somalia, which is a double standard, inconsistent with the principles of fairness and non-discrimination, and is not conducive to upholding the authority of the Security Council's sanctions regime. It is hoped that the Council will deal with the relevant issues in a more balanced and transparent manner in future discussions.
Al-Shabaab is an extremist organization linked to al-Qaida and has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Somalia and neighbouring countries in recent years. (ENDS).