Iranian weapons found in Somalia

RPG-7 launchers found on one of two ships intercepted by the US Navy USS Winston Churchill off the coast of Somalia on February 12, 2021. via REUTERS - US NAVAL FORCES

Text by: Tancrède Chambraud

3 min

In a report, the Swiss think tank Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) confirms the presence of Iranian weapons on Somali soil.

Weapons initially intended for Yemeni Houthi rebels. 

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The study is based on some 400 weapons seized in thirteen Somali cities, but also on the cargoes of thirteen ships intercepted by international naval forces in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea since 2015. 

Jay Bahadur, author of the

report

, compared the serial numbers of weapons seized in Somalia with those of weapons from the cargoes of intercepted ships, suspected of coming from Iran.

According to him, “

 most, if not all of these rifles seized in Somalia share a common origin: most likely Iranian state stocks.

 " 

The existence of an Iranian network is also confirmed by the GPS track of a boat carrying illegal weapons.

In February 2021, the US Navy USS Winston Churchill intercepted two boats off the coast of Somalia.

On board one of them, thousands of assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket launchers.  

Checking the GPS history, the sailors discover that the contraband vessel anchored just ten kilometers from the Iranian port of Jask, located near a military base in the Strait of Hormuz, before heading off the coast of the coast of the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, north Somalia. 

Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement in the supply of arms to Houthi rebels in the past.

When contacted, the Iranian and Somali authorities did not react to the publication of this study. 

Fear of regional destabilization 

The GI-TOC report warns of a massive proliferation of arms from Yemen and Iran, which would further destabilize the Horn of Africa. 

The political crisis in Somalia, a consequence of the multiple postponements of the electoral process, may have increased the demand for weapons.

Political

tensions

at the top of the state from which the Shebab fighters could benefit, as explained in the GI-TOC report which warns against the risk of a possible delivery of heavy equipment through the Iran-Yemen channel. 

According to GI-TOC sources, the importation of arms into Puntland is accompanied by a rise in clan tensions, particularly in the disputed areas between Puntland and the neighboring self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland, west of Somalia. . The fighters of the Islamist groups of the Islamic State organization and of the Shebabs active in the region have also been taking advantage for several years of the proximity with Yemen to restock their stocks of arms and ammunition. 

But Puntland is not always the final destination for these weapons.

Fears of a deterioration of the security climate in the entire region are all the greater as assault rifles derived from the Iran-Yemen channel have been seized near the Kenyan border, but also near Ethiopia. , in the Galmudug region.

A porous area that could become a major transit point and fuel a conflict such as the civil war in Tigray. 

To read also: After a year of war in Tigray, the Ethiopian power on the verge of faltering

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