Don’t Bomb Iran

A report commissioned for the UN Security Council says  “there were two Iranians in Dhusamareeb engaged on matters linked to the exploration of Uranium in exchange for arms to the ICU (Islamic courts).” Although only one sentence in a dense 86 page report on the Somali arms embargo, this gave rise to many headlines worldwide. The unpublished report is available here

Iran ‘tried to get uranium by arming Somalia’

By David Blair, Africa Correspondent
Daily Telegraph GMT 17/11/2006

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Ater its arrival, the UN says that Iran promised the Islamists further weapons, but only in return for uranium, presumably for use in Teheran’s nuclear programme.

Two Iranians were sent to the Somali town of Dhusa Mareb to negotiate this deal. “At the time of the writing, there were two Iranians in Dhusa Mareb engaged in matters linked to uranium in exchange for arms,” it said.

Somalia’s recoverable uranium deposits, totalling about 6,600 tonnes, are among the smallest in Africa, but the country collapsed into anarchy 15 years ago when its central government was destroyed. The Islamists, who captured Mogadishu from a coalition of secular warlords in June, are now believed to control the area where uranium is present.

Teheran appears to have sought the right to exploit these deposits, which could be shipped to Iran through Mogadishu’s large port.