Explanation of vote by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva at the UNSC vote on renewal of Somalia sanctions
Mme. President, dear colleagues,
The Russian Federation has abstained on the resolution on the Somalia sanctions renewal prepared by the United Kingdom. We note the amendments meant to optimize the arms embargo made upon Mogadishu’s request. We hope they will support normalization and reduce the terrorist threat coming, in the first place, from Al-Shabaab. However the draft didn’t take onboard our principled and duly substantiated proposals.
We deem it unreasonable to have paragraphs on Djibouti and Eritrea included into a document focusing on Somalia. Sanctions on Eritrea were lifted back in 2018. The situation in the relations between Djibouti and Asmara poses no threat to international peace and security. Settlement of the remaining disputes between these countries is a matter of bilateral diplomacy. The Secretary-General’s report circulated in the Council this summer confirmed these assessments.
We also regret to see the continued practice of utilizing the resolution for the furtherance in the Security Council of human rights-related aspects of the Somalia file. Let me stress once again: There is a separate body to address them – UN Human Rights Council. We call to observe the traditional “division of labor”.
We cannot agree either with singling out in the text of certain partners providing assistance to Somalia in the fight against organized crime and illicit trafficking in the region. Such a selective approach hardly looks constructive.
To conclude, we would like to express regret that, this year too, the Council failed to ensure consensual adoption of the resolution - so important for our Somali colleagues. It is deplorable that, rather than to continue the search for compromise solutions and trade-offs on the text, the UK colleagues preferred to ignore the comments shared by our delegation at the last stage and expedite the vote procedure. We expect that appropriate conclusions will be drawn thereof.
Thank you.
