Light arms, a scourge for peaceful development NAIROBI, 6 February 2004 (IRIN) - Over the last 50 years the use of small arms has cost some two million lives in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, where in some countries guns are as abundant as goods are in supermarkets and where there is a general climate of violence. In addition to the conflicts and disease that afflict the region, the proliferation of illicit small firearms represents a veritable scourge for peaceful development in these countries. The proliferation of light arms began after World War Two and worsened during the 1960s when many Africa countries gained their independence. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the end of the bipolar world should have marked the dawn of a new era of global peace and stability. However, the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa have remained, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), among the zones in the world most affected by armed conflict. The direct consequences of these conflicts has been the proliferation of illicit small arms in civilian hands and among rebel groups. Each minute a person is killed in the world by a small gun, according to background documents distributed at an interparliamentary conference on small arms held on 26-28 November 2003 in Mombasa, Kenya. UNDP figures show that 500,000 people die each year, of whom 200,000 are in countries at peace. The Mombasa conference was organised by UNDP and the European Parliamentary Association for Africa (AWEPA) as part of efforts to stamp out the circulation of small guns in the region. Its objective was to define a parliamentary plan of action in this area. The conference brought together parliamentarians from Burundi, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and the legislative assembly of East Africa. Some regional civil society representatives and European parliamentarians also participated in the meeting. According to Resolution A 54/258 of the UN General Assembly of 2001, revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, heavy and light machine guns all fall within the classification of light arms. Also included are grenade launchers, hand-held anti-aircraft and antitank guns, medium calibre 100 mm mortars, and ammunition for these weapons. Uncontrolled access to and possession of these weapons creates increased insecurity. "Some people even shoot up bars, and people find that normal. Why are they so at ease amidst a climate of violence? What will the impact be on families, on our values?" Isaac Ssetubba, a Ugandan parliamentarian, said. The consequences of the proliferation of light arms The consequences for societies of the proliferation of illicit light small arms are dramatic. Besides the violent resolution of differences and the concomitant increase in crime, this phenomenon has deeper implications, Gilbert Barthe, who is in charge of the UNDP programme in small arms, said. The insecurity created by the presence of such weapons in civilian hands stymies peaceful development and foreign investment in these countries. The circulation of illegal small arms also helps intensify conflicts and make them last longer. Recalling an 18-year conflict in his country, Ssetubba said that if the Lords Resistance Army had not received weapons their rebellion against the government of President Yoweri Museveni would have ended. In the Central African Republic (CAR), three mutinies in 1996 and 1997, a failed coup on 28 may 2001 and the successful putsch of Francois Bozize, who came to power 15 March 2003, have all contributed to the spread of small arms in the country. In each case, said the representative of the delegation of CAR, Monique Yanoy, fresh supplies of arms and ammunition of all calibres were brought into the country. The same scenario was true for Burundi, where a 10-year civil war has destroyed the country. "Today, there are no less than seven political and armed movements," Libere Bararunyeretse, president of the Burundi Senate, said at the November conference. "If it is so tempting to start a rebellion, it is certainly because there are ways to buy arms and particularly small-calibre light arms," he added. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has also known war since 1996 between the government army and anti-government militia. Three million people have died as a result. "The presence and abusive use of small-caliber light arms has had a negative impact on human rights, international humanitarian right and development," Philippe Muanza, a representative of DRC's civil society, said. At the regional level millions of people have died, have been displaced or have sought refuge in other countries. Thousands of child soldiers have been recruited, thousands others are HIV aids orphans whom war has deprived of education. Countless other women and girls have been raped and are in need of medical and social care. And Muanza said, "The free circulation of small arms has led to the summary extra-judiciary executions, assassinations and extortion, arbitrary arrest and detention, and kidnappings." However, the end of the crisis does not stop the effects of the presence of illicit light arms in society. So, for the parliamentary delegate of the DRC, "in spite of the end of the war, the DRC remains a powder keg". Rwanda has achieved its transition from conflict to democracy by organising legislative and presidential elections, and adopting a new constitution. Even if the country's security situation has returned to what is was in the early 1990s, before the war, said Rwandan parliamentarian Francois Muyurangabo, the presence of illicit guns is seen as a serious threat to international security, particularly in the Great Lakes. "In fact, the problem has been accentuated by the multiple actions of rebel movements, by cross-border smuggling and drug trafficking," he said, while calling for neighbouring countries to collaborate to eradicate this menace. Cross-border rebel activity and refugee movements contribute to the circulation of illegal light arms. Tanzania, a peaceful country, suffers from the instability of its neighbours and from its long porous borders, its parliamentary representative said. This has enabled refugees to enter the country with relative ease, some bringing guns despite laws prohibiting the importation of small arms. However, after the production of a national plan of action in 2002, the country carried out a special operation and collected 1,811 light arms in the regions of Kigoma and Kagera. In the Central African Republic, that country's parliamentary delegate said, light arms had sometimes been resold for other goods to enable refugees to survive or to continue their journey. A similar situation exists in Kenya. Its inability, due to the lack of manpower, to police its 2,000 km border with Somalia, inevitably leads to the entry of small arms. These weapons have heightened insecurity in the towns and cities. They have also been widely used by cattle rustlers and in ethnic conflict in the northeast of the country. However, the Kenyan government is cooperating with partners to harmonise strategies to block the proliferation of light weapons. Some 10,000 illegal weapons have been seized over the last 30 years. Close to 900 of them were burned on 15 March 2003 in Nairobi, while the others have been otherwise destroyed. The authorities lack, however, precise information on the extent of the phenomenon. National laws do not seem to have yielded the expected results even though some progress has been made to contain the problem. Some states have laws on firearms (the DRC, Uganda, for example), or on sharp weapons such as knives and cutlasses, which must be registered. Rwandan law stipulates that a person applying for a firearm must say why the weapon is needed. CAR has revived a similar bill. In Kenya, the purchase, sale, use and destruction of arms is also regulated. In the Republic of Congo arms makers must obtain government authorisation; the export, import and transfer of arms are also regulated. In Tanzania, in addition to provisions to reform existing laws, the authorities are computerising data and are trying to determine the origin of these arms. The majority of countries concerned have also undertaken to sensitise their populations on the subject. In the crisis countries, the authorities support the programmes of disarmament, demobilisation, and the reintegration of former fighters into society. Such are the cases in Burundi, the DRC and the Republic of Congo. The outbreak of wars has, nevertheless, often stymied these regulations. But even in times of peace, the lack of material, human and financial means makes (the effectiveness) of these laws uncertain. For Gilbert Barthe, the weakness in the fight against the illicit circulation of light arms resides essentially in the difficulty in knowing the identity of the arms makers and those who create the demand for weapons. The closure of arms factories outside Africa would be an illusion, Maria Asuncion Oltra, the representative of the Spanish parliament, said. Weapons must be manufactured to equip the police and the army. Other than this requirement, the representative of the Group de recherché et d'informaion sur la paix et la securite (GRIP), Ilhan Berkol, said there were economic interests underlying the manufacture of weapons, mostly by multinational firms. An arms factory closed in one country will invariably reopen elsewhere, he said. Economic and employment considerations also discourage local authorities from closing these factories, especially when there countries are running deficits, he said. Regional and International initiatives Overcoming the circulation of illegal arms goes beyond the state. Berkol recalled the existence of "a series of international initiatives to control the transfer of arms" saying, however, that these inititiatives "have in general a regional aspect and are often politically constrained". In fact, he added, "The consensus is difficult to reach at the international level since one must strengthen monitoring and the criteria for weapons exports." However, regional initiatives exist. The EU has initiated several initiatives such as the European Programme for the Fight Against Arms Trafficking (June 1997), The Common Action of the EU to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate Illicit Arms Sales in all its Aspects (December 200), and the Common Position on Control of Arms Dealers (June 2003). The 15 EU foreign ministers have, above all, ratified a code of conduct on the export of arms in 1998. The code aims to establish "common norms ... for the administration and the restriction of the transfer of conventional arms and the prevention of the export of equipment that can be used for internal repression or international aggression or that can prejudice regional stability". The eight criteria of the code of conduct are: 1) Respect for international undertakings, such as embargoes or other pertinent international initiatives. 2) Respect of human rights in the countries to which the arms are destined. 3) Internal stability. 4) Maintenance of regional stability. 5) The security of allied countries, in particular the member states of the EU. 6) The behaviour of countries that are the final arms destination for weapons, in particular in regards to terrorism. 7) The risks of fraud or undesirable re-exportation. 8) The compatability of the contract with the economic capacity of the countries. Berkol, however, noted several weaknesses in the code of conduct that serves only as a moral and not a legal constraint. The criteria are "relatively lax", he said and the code allowed member countries to have a more restrictive national policy. There is limited transparency since the annual reports on arms exports are transmitted confidently to other member states. Nevertheless, he said, each year the EU Council published a global report on the export of arms from the 15 member states. For the first time in West Africa, the Economic Community of West African States decided on 31 October 1998, on a three-year moratorium on the transfer and manufacture of light arms. The 16 heads of state of the grouping agreed during this period to ban all import, export and production of these weapons. The moratorium was renewed in 2001 for another three years. It expired in October 2003. Now NGOs are seeking to integrate it into a new regional convention. On the international plane, where there is no general treaty of this nature, the embargoes decided by the UN Security Council, the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel landmines (signed by 121 countries in 1997), the UN protocol against the manufacture and illegal sale of firearms and munitions of June 2001 have demonstrated the conscience of the international community on the subject. The first UN conference on light arms occurred in July 2001. It had as its objective understanding on "a programme of action with the view to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit commerce in light arms in all its forms. Berkol said that although the programme only had political value, it was the first time that the "problem was considered on the multilateral basis, at the UN, and that arms transfers from state to state had been targeted. The programme of action touched on the entire problem of light arms and defined the path to take." The Nairobi Declaration Several initiatives have been taken up in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa. Among these measures, foreign ministers of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania adopted in 15 March 2000, the Declaration of Nairobi on the Problem of the Proliferation of Illegal Small Calibre Guns in this region. Throughout this declaration, signatory countries agreed to "encourage a concrete agenda and coordinate action in the subregion ... to accelerate and reinforce and, where there exist none, adopt laws, national regulations and the mechanism to control the possession of arms held by civilians; to incite countries in the region to ensure that all manufacturers, businessmen, financial agents and small caliber arms transporters are regulated by licences"; as well as "call on states to reinforce subregional cooperation between their police, secret services, customs and border guard officials". The participants tasked the Kenyan government with the responsibility of coordinating the follow up of this declaration, which was notably manifested on the 7 and 8 August 2002, by the organisation of the First Ministerial Conference of Verification of the Nairobi Declaration. State initiatives Following the declaration, Tanzania collected and destroyed arms and at the same time launched a public information drive on the issue. The representative of the Tanzanian delegation to the conference, however, warned that in the near future the country would not have the money to honour its undertakings. In Rwanda, a national focal point and a committee to harmonise the laws on this matter were created. A national conference on light arms is programmed, from which a national plan of action will emerge. The assessment in the DRC was qualified as positive by the representative of the parliamentary delegation. Three months after the adoption of the declaration, the authorities started the disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation and reinsertion of former fighters. Particular effort has been put into the reintegration of child soldiers and the provision of psychological care and micro projects to help in this process. Kenya has, among other things, organised exchanges of information with Uganda and started joint patrols with that country. Six thousand firearms were destroyed 2003. The capacity of security personnel has been reinforced. The authorities have also urged the public to turn in their guns. Parliament was involved in the sensitisation of the public with the result being a reduction in cattle theft. In Burundi, the inauguration of a national focal point encompasses the ministries concerned and the representative of civil society. Its mission is to establish a national database on arms, arms traffickers and gun owners; actualise legislation notably on the manufacture, the carring and use of arms. Finally, other than the disarmament and demobilisation programme, the authorities are engaged in retrieving all guns held by civilians, in line with the Arusha Accord on Peace and reconciliation of 28 August 2000. Uganda has, following a voluntary arms collection drive within the Karamojong community between December 2001 and February 2002, retrieved 10,000 weapons of the estimated 100,000 in circulation. On 11 July 2003, the government destroyed close to 7,000 anti-personnel land mines. Uganda also proceeded to collect data and inform the public on the problem. The president has named peace teams and many people have surrendered their weapons voluntarily. The Central African Republic, although not yet a signatory to the declaration, has created a local technical committee on disarmament. The country has proceeded to demobilise fighters and supports voluntary restitutions. The CAR parliamentary representative announced a decree for the fight against light guns. The Republic of Congo, the other non-signatory country, pledged to support all initiatives related to the Nairobi Declaration. The country's parliamentary representative recalled that a national committee for demobilisation, and the reintegration of ex-fighters into society as well as the creation of a High Commission in this domain had been set up. The undertakings at the Mombasa conference In the Nairobi Declaration, participants at the Mombasa conference agreed on a parliamentary plan of action that foresees the creation of a regional inter-parliamentary network to promote and influence the themes relative to armed violence; revise, modify the existing rules and help harmonise these laws; promote international action in the United Nations with the aim of developing and adopting an international accord restricting branding, opening registers, tracing light arms; harmonising border controls; demanding members of the European parliament, members of AWEPA, to study critically, legislative and factual, the rules registering production, the make, brokerage and the export of arms; and to call for sanctions against suppliers and users of illicit arms and the states that encourage these types of practices. The participating countries will be reviewing the actions taken after this conference no later than before 29 February 2004. Parliamentarians have also carried out specific actions in their institutions to "promote strongly the actions of the executive" in applying the Declaration of Nairobi; create ad hoc committees on light arms; question governments on these issues; table bills on these issues; demand that the issue of light arms be put on the parliamentary agendas and cooperate with the media to enable transparency and the understanding of the subject. On the margins of the conference, the delegations of Burundi, the DRC and Rwanda consulted to see how they could follow up this meeting. The three heads of state have agreed to the creation of a follow-up mechanism to harmonise their respective laws and on the holding of an inter-parliamentary conference in Bujumbura, the Burundi capital, in March. Note: AWEPA was created in 1984 to defend human rights and fight against Apartheid in South Africa. AWEPA has since then extended its activities to other regions in Africa. The association brings its help to the consolidation of young democrats, the promotion of human rights as well as that of peace and reconciliation by offering a platform for dialogue between African and European parliamentarians. The association is composed of Members of Parliament of central and eastern European countries.