Peacekeepers In Somalia Accused Of Selling Arms To Rebels There

May 24, 2008 11:33 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - A United Nations report showed peacekeepers in Uganda have been selling firearms to Islamist rebels battling with the Somalian government and Ethiopian forces there.

BBC News, quoting the U.N. monitoring group report that was presented to the U.N. Security Council, said three other countries have been breaking the embargo. These are Yemen, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, it added.

There had been allegations that a number of peacekeepers in Somalia have been trading firearms with the aid of translators, the BBC News added.

The firearms, the U.N. report said, were previously acquired from rebels. In one transaction, the soldiers were said to have received $80,000.

Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's envoy to the U.N., expressed concerns over the peacekeeper's undermining the peace process, BBC News added.

The government of Uganda had said it will probe into the accused activity.

The Agence France-Presse wire agency, quoting the report, said arms traders have identified the biggest arms supplier as the "Ethiopian and transitional federal government commanders.