Somali security forces leaving their duties

The ranks of Somalia's army and police have been gutted as most soldiers and police officers have deserted, often taking their weapons and vehicles, according to a new U.N. Security Council report.

The chairman of the council's Monitoring Group on Somalia said on Thursday that this was one of the main sources of weapons and ammunition in Somalia, along with illegal imports from Yemen and purchases of arms for opposition groups with funds from various domestic and foreign financiers.

There has been "an 80 percent erosion and attrition in the (interim government's) security sector, by which over 15,000 soldiers and police had deserted or defected along with their arms, uniforms, skills and vehicles in some cases," South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo told the council.

Arms embargo in place since 1992
A U.N. arms embargo has been in place on the now lawless Horn of Africa country since 1992.

In a four-page summary of the monitoring group's biannual report for the council, Kumalo also said his committee had observed a "steady disintegration" of the government since he gave the group's last report to the Security Council in May.

He said that 70 percent of the transitional Somali government's revenues were earmarked for supporting the security sector, but very few of those funds were ever spent on security due to corruption.

"Charitable organizations and the Internet were the main sources of funding for armed opposition groups and ... payment mechanisms involving cash couriers and contributions in kind had emerged," Kumalo said in his summary.

Piracy a 'multimillion dollar industry'
On the topic of piracy, he described it as a "multimillion dollar industry, with a total of 1,000-1,500 pirates employed, using over 60 small boats and mother ships."

He added that pirates were invoking "legitimate Somali grievances regarding foreign exploitation of marine resources and degradation of the marine environment, thus gaining community support." He was referring to illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping in Somali waters.

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The monitoring group had also found that the pirate leaders were well known in Somalia and therefore identifiable.

Many pirates are based in Somalia's semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland.

Regarding allegations of complicity between Puntland officials and pirates, he said the regional authorities' steps against the menace were "selective" and that "senior government officials had been so compromised that these measures would be of little consequence."

A surge in piracy this year in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean off Somalia has driven up insurance costs, brought the gangs tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and prompted foreign navies to rush to the area to protect shipping.

The U.S. delegation has circulated to members of the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution that would give countries the right to pursue pirates on land as well as at sea. Several council diplomats told Reuters the powers were too broad and predicted the text would not pass in its current form.