Security Council: Letter dated 27 September 2019 from the Panel of Experts on Somalia addressed to the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia

Summary

During the first reporting period of the Panel of Experts on Somalia, the use by
Al-Shabaab of improvised explosive devices reached its greatest extent in Somali
history, with a year-on-year increase of approximately one third. Post-blast chemical
analyses obtained by the Panel provided definitive evidence for the first time that
Al-Shabaab had been manufacturing its own home-made explosives since at least July
2017, and likely before then. Al-Shabaab previously relied on military grade
explosives, obtained principally from explosive remnants of war and munitions
captured from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), to construct
improvised explosive devices; the manufacture of home-made explosives means that
the group may now have access to far more readily available inputs for the construction
of such devices.