U.N. officials say the unstable security situation in Somalia was the key motivator to continue to support the four-member expert group that monitors the arms flow to Somalia. The monitor's mandate was originally established with a 2003 U.N. resolution designed to track and deter the movement of arms in or out of Somalia, the U.N. reported.

According to the resolution, the four-member monitoring group will be expected to "continue to investigate any means of transport, routes, seaports, airports and other facilities used in connections with arms embargo violations," the resolution stated.

Without a functioning government in Somalia for nearly two decades, militant operatives have posed a serious threat to the region. U.N. officials estimate that as many as 7,000 people have fled Mogadishu after a recent fighting and approximately 700,000 people have fled Mogadishu in 2007.