The U.N. Sanctions Monitoring Group is reported to be concerned about Iranian and Yemeni links to arms supplies for Al-Shabaab.

Last month Yemeni coast guards and the U.S. Navy seized a consignment of missiles and rockets which the Yemen government claims were sent by Iran.

According to Reuters, the Monitoring Group, which tracks compliance with U.N. sanctions on Somalia and Eritrea, says most weapons deliveries into Somalia are coming into the area between Puntland and Somaliland and then being moved farther south.

The supply chain in Yemen is largely run by Somalis. Arms arriving include components for improvised explosive devices as well as PKM machine guns.

Iran has denied the allegations, calling them "absurd fabrications." The Somali government has called for the arms embargo to be lifted.

The Monitoring Group, however, will apparently suggest that their latest findings offer support for a gradual easing of the arms embargo rather lifting it completely.

A number of members of the Security Council are also said to prefer this option.

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* Originally published on A Week in the Horn – February 15, 2013 issue, titled “U.N. monitors say Al-Shabaab getting arms through Yemen and Iran”. Items from A Week in the Horn are re-published here with a permission to do so. You may republish it with attribution and no modification to its contents.

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