The staffing of SICC is proposed at one Security Officer (P-3), five Field Service and four local-level personnel.

In that letter, SICC dismissed the Monitoring Group's allegations as “baseless” and “categorically” denied violations of the arms embargo.

The Chairman of the Monitoring Group had several discussions by telephone with Shaikh Sharif Shaikh Ahmed, Chairman of the Executive Council of the Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC), regarding the Council's involvement in arms embargo violations.

(a) The Security Information and Coordination Cell (SICC) is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Security Plan, as approved by the Security Coordinator for the evacuation of mission personnel in the event of an emergency, plans and conducts rehearsals of emergency procedures and collects and analyses information so that appropriate security measures can be taken. SICC will coordinate for emergency evacuation at the district level.

Within the framework of due process, the Monitoring Group also sent a letter dated 20 September 2006 to SICC, addressed to Shaikh Sharif Shaikh Ahmed, reinforcing the substantive aspects of his earlier telephone conversations with the Chairman of the Monitoring Group and seeking a written reply.