In January 1992 the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Somalia due to the ongoing civil war and a humanitarian crisis. The EU has implemented the embargo and subsequent amendments to it..
Although EU member states had implemented the UN embargo since 1992 it was only in December 2002 that the European Union formally implemented the UN arms embargo on Somalia in Council Common Position 2002/960/CFSP.
In January 2003 Council Regulation (EC) No 147/2003 was added to further enforce the arms embargo.
In February 2009 Council Common Position 2009/138/CFSP repealed the existing embargo and replaced it with an arms embargo on Somalia which allowed the supply or sale of arms and related material intended solely for the purpose of helping to develop security sector institutions, consistent with the political process set out in UNSCR 1744 (2007) and in the absence of a negative decision by the relevant UN Sanctions Committee.