Iran tried to obtain uranium from Somalia in return for supplying weapons to the anarchic country’s Islamist movement, according to the United Nations…Three illegal arms shipments from Teheran are detailed in the 86-page report. One consignment which reached Somalia in July included 1,000 machine guns, 45 surface-to-air missiles, M-79 rocket launchers and land mines. After the arrival of this shipment, the UN says that Iran promised the Islamists further weapons – but only in return for uranium, presumably for use in Teheran’s nuclear programme.
That’s not so good, obviously, but another detail in this story catches the eye. Seven countries are, apparently, supplying arms to Somalia’s proto-Taliban. The identity of two of these (Djibouti and Eritrea) can be explained by traditional rivalries with Ethiopia (Ethiopia is helping what’s left of Somalia’s official government), but let’s look at the others. Syria, Iran and Sudan are no surprise, but ‘reformed’ Libya is a touch disappointing. And then there’s the supposed US ally Egypt and then, wait for it, as inevitable as cockroaches in a filthy kitchen, the Saudi dictatorship.
Five years after 9/11, five years after the fall of the Taliban, Saudi Arabia is still spreading its poison around. I wish I could say that I’m surprised, but I’m not.