Police commander cleared of Al-Shabaab ties by UN

The United Nations has cleared brigadier general Sadiq Omar Mohamed (John), the commander of the Somali Police Force, on Wednesday of suspected links with Al-Shabaab.

In his first briefing to the UN Security Council as Chair of the Security Council Committee under resolution 751 on Somalia, Belgian Ambassador, Philippe Kridelka, said that Mr Mohamed is no longer under investigation.

” I would like to inform that the panel of experts have clarified upon review of the information profusely submitted to the committee by its predecessor – The Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group – regarding General Sadiq Omar Mohamed, that no evidence was found of affiliation to Al-Shabaab; and that General Sadiq is not the subject of current investigations by the panel”.

The Committee on Somalia will meet every 120 days.

Beginning in January 1992, The 751 Somalia Sanctions Committee is the oldest currently in operation.

The various UN Panel on Somalia has received strong rebukes from the Somali government in the past for the outlandish and unsubstantiated allegations levied on politicians and the business community. The Somali government refused to allow the panel into the country in 2019 to conduct its investigations, although the relationship is said to be improving.

The panel also addressed Al-Shabaab’s IED production. It confirmed that that Al-Qaeda linked militant group is using nitroglycerine as an explosive, potassium nitrate as an oxidizer, and charcoal as fuel in some explosives.

The US Ambassador to the US, Kelly Craft, pushed the council members to renew UN sanctions on Somalia and include a ban on IED components.

The UK is the penholder on Somalia.