THE PRICE OF CIVIL WAR A survey of Somalia’s arms markets
Between December 2020 and August 2021, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) field researchers documented a total of 4251 small arms and light weapons (SALW) and over 3 200 rounds of ammunition across Somalia. In November 2021, we published a research report based on a portion of this data, entitled ‘An Iranian fingerprint?’.2
That report focused on the proliferation of Chinese-manufactured Type 56-1 assault rifles in illicit markets across Somalia, concluding that the rifles had very likely been diverted from Iranian arms transfers to Houthi insurgents in Yemen. The current report presents additional findings from this eight-month collection of field data.
The analysis is structured in three parts: the first consists of a pricing study of 13 illicit markets across Somalia that the GI-TOC surveyed; the second highlights four case studies of interest, including materiel of Iranian and Saudi origin, as well as a series of Chinese assault rifles doctored to appear as if they were of Russian manufacture; and the third part presents a brief summary of the findings of the ammunition survey.
Between December 2020 and August 2021, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) field researchers documented a total of 4251 small arms and light weapons (SALW) and over 3 200 rounds of ammunition across Somalia. In November 2021, we published a research report based on a portion of this data, entitled ‘An Iranian fingerprint?’.2
That report focused on the proliferation of Chinese-manufactured Type 56-1 assault rifles in illicit markets across Somalia, concluding that the rifles had very likely been diverted from Iranian arms transfers to Houthi insurgents in Yemen. The current report presents additional findings from this eight-month collection of field data.
The analysis is structured in three parts: the first consists of a pricing study of 13 illicit markets across Somalia that the GI-TOC surveyed; the second highlights four case studies of interest, including materiel of Iranian and Saudi origin, as well as a series of Chinese assault rifles doctored to appear as if they were of Russian manufacture; and the third part presents a brief summary of the findings of the ammunition survey.
