Independent experts are calling for a tightening of the 14-year-old arms embargo on lawless Somalia to prevent an all-out civil war, according to a UN report obtained on Wednesday.
The 80-page report by the Nairobi-based Monitoring Group on Somalia urges "severely curtailing or cutting off arms flows into Somalia by implementing a total border surveillance and interdiction effort" through a combination of sea, air and land military forces.
Warning of a looming civil war between Somalia's weak transitional government and its powerful Islamist foes, the study by the panel's four independent experts calls for a sea and air interdiction campaign by countries of the region and by international forces present in the area.
The effort should also be backed by the International Maritime Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the report said.
On land, a UN observer mission should be deployed and be assisted by customs authorities of regional groups and other states, it notes.
The panel also recommends an assets freeze on all Somali-owned and operated businesses both inside and outside Somalia that are linked to either of the warring sides and whose assets may be used to fund the purchase of arms of military equipment or provide military training banned under the 1992 arms embargo.
The panel's report is to be discussed by the UN Security Council on Friday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday.
"The security situation in Somalia has continued to deteriorate dramatically, resulting in an explosion of arms flows, wider militarization of society and eventually the ongoing and broad military build-up of the two major contenders for control of Somalia, all in violation of the arms embargo," the report says.
It warns that the "current relentless momentum" toward a violent confrontation between the Ethiopian-backed transitional government and the Islamists and their respective coalitions "may create a protracted and widespread civil war, accompanied by major losses of life and a large displacement of Somalis into neighbouring countries and regional acts of terrorism."
It says that seven nations and Lebanon's militant movement Hizbullah have sent military aid to the Islamists who control the capital Mogadishu, while three countries are backing the interim government in Baidoa.
Arch-foes Ethiopia and Eritrea, still at odds over their 1998-2000 border war, also have thousands of combat troops in Somalia, according to the report. Both countries deny this, although Ethiopia admits to sending military advisers.
Backing the Islamists are Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Hizbullah, while Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen are supporting the government, according to the report,
Nearly all of the named nations deny violating the arms embargo but the report provides detailed information about weapons shipments -- including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and other sophisticated equipment -- and the provision of other military aid.