Contents

Editorial

Sierra Leone:
Reviewing DDR

Impact of Small Arms in Kenya

The SADC Firearms Protocol

SARPCCO: policing the region

Comoros: Arms
Management in Practice

Editorial

Since the conclusion of the United Nations conference on small arms in July 2001, many countries in Africa have been assessing the commitments undertaken against their current national practice, identifying areas where further action to combat the proliferation and trafficking of illicit small arms and light weapons must take place. Other efforts to combat the spread of small arms are also occurring.

Recently, the Organization of African Unity sent an observer mission to the Comoros island of Anjouan to support a weapons collection and stockpile management programme, as part of the Framework Agreement for Reconciliation in the Comoros. In Sierra Leone, the disarmament and demobilisation of 48,000 ex-combatants was completed in January 2002, with more than 25,000 weapons and 935,000 rounds of ammunition turned in.

At the sub-regional level, the West African moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of small arms and light weapons was renewed, the members of the Southern African Development Community adopted the Protocol on Combating Small Arms and the implementation of the Nairobi Declaration in the Horn and East Africa continues, with its second anniversary in March.

Continentally, the Organization of African Unity has been developing a draft implementation plan for the Bamako Declaration. This plan sets out the pillars of the Declaration and identifies the national, sub-regional and regional steps that need to be taken to ensure that the principles stated in the Declaration are realised. The Bamako Implementation Plan identifies the following action areas:

Establishment of national coordination agencies


Information exchange


Harmonisation of legislation and administrative procedures


Inter-state cooperation


Awareness raising


Mobilisation of resources and project funding

Each of these areas will have designated activities and outputs, as well as resource requirements and a time frame.

It is often said that thinking
the ideas is easy - implementation is the challenge.

Translating the commitments of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms, the Bamako Declaration and sub-regional agreements into realisable efforts that will limit the spread of small arms and ensure a more peaceful and stable continent for the people of Africa is the challenge that must now be grasped.

Sierra Leone: Reviewing DDR

In 1996 the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) government set up the Ministry of Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation that was later transformed into the National Commission for Reconstruction Resettlement and Rehabilitation (NCRRR). This Commission had a department responsible for the disarmament of the various fighting forces. In July 1998, this department was reconstituted as the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR).

The goal of the NCDDR was to consolidate the existing short-term security situation to form the basis for lasting peace. Its aims were to:

Collect, destroy and dispose of all conventional weapons and ammunition received from combatants;



Demobilise an estimated 45,000 ex-combatants from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Civil Defence Force (CDF) and renegade soldiers and paramilitary forces;



Prepare for sustainable social and economic reintegration of ex-combatants to ensure long-term security.

The NCDDR is chaired by the President of Sierra Leone and includes the following members:

Representative from the donor community


Minister of Information and Broadcasting


Minister of Finance


Deputy Minister of Defence (who was the CDF coordinator)


Special Representative of the UN


UN Military Force Commander (UNAMSIL)


Head of the RUF

Assembly - organising the arrival of combatants and their orientation on the disarmament process;



Interview - collection of personal identification information, registration, verification of weapons or ordnance delivered by the ex-combatants;



Weapons collection - which involved the tagging of all weapons or ordnance and temporarily disabling and storing the weapons prior to their transportation to the final storage and disposal centres;



Eligibility certification - verification and authorisation of the ex-combatants by the UN for their inclusion as beneficiaries of the DDR Programme;



Transportation - the screened and disarmed combatants were finally assembled and organised for transportation to demobilisation centres.

Demobilisation was the process by which the disarmed ex-combatants were received and provided with basic necessities. They were further prepared to enter civilian life through the implementation of orientation activities, such as trauma healing and psycho-social counselling, information and sensitisation seminars and civic education. They were provided with transitional allowances (later referred to as reinsertion packages) to support them during the first three months in their chosen places of resettlement. The ex-combatants were eventually assisted with transportation to their respective local communities where they were provided with reintegration services.

By 5 January 2002, the disarmament and demobilisation of about 48,000 ex-combatants was successfully carried out. This culminated in the symbolic burning of almost 3,000 weapons on 18 January 2002 at Lungi Town, in a ceremony to mark the end of the war in Sierra Leone. The social and economic reintegration of ex-combatants, which is on-going, is now the most crucial challenge for government and all key players in this post disarmament phase.

In recognition that not all weapons were collected during the DDR programme, the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) is conducting a Community Arms Collection and Destruction (CACD) programme. The retrained, re-equipped and restructured SLP have raised the public confidence through community policing strategies to such an extent that people are willingly turning in their weapons to CACD centres manned by the police. Already a total of 7,951 arms and 3,826 rounds of ammunition, including hand grenades and RPGs, have been collected around the countryside by the SLP.

Impact of small arms proliferation in Kenya

Kenya is facing the results of the uncontrolled proliferation of small arms. Weapon stocks and the changing alignment in Somalia and Ethiopia have led to a surplus of weapons circulating in the region. The porosity of borders allow arms flows from the conflict-ridden areas of Southern Sudan, north-eastern Uganda, Ethiopia, the Great

Lakes region and Somalia, while new supplies enter the region through unsecured air and sea ports. Another source of weapons in Kenya is the small arms issued to the Kenya Police Reserves (KPR) by the government. These have allegedly been used in pastoral areas for cattle rustling and robberies.

The impact of these armed criminal activities in Kenya has retarded development, restricted freedom of movement, especially in remote areas, and reduced economic activities.

Kenya is working to eradicate poverty, in line with the current international initiatives, but the presence and availability of small arms poses an obstacle. For example, most businesses in Nairobi and other urban areas close at dusk for fear of attacks and tourism is hampered by banditry. Nor is agriculture spared. The conflicts in the Northern Rift and Tana River districts have forced the Marakwets and Pokomo to abandon their fertile land and seek refuge in semi-arid areas, thus losing their livelihood.

However all is not lost. The Kenyan government has taken steps to implement the Nairobi Declaration and intends to publicly destroy recovered and surrendered small arms and light weapons on the second anniversary of the signing of the Nairobi Declaration in March 2002.

Implementing the SADC Firearms Protocol

The issue of small arms proliferation has long been on the agenda of governments in Southern Africa and most recently culminated in the signing of the Southern African Development Community Protocol on the Control of Firearms, Ammunition and Other Related Material, in August 2001.

The Protocol reaffirms that priority should be given to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit manufacturing of firearms, ammunition and other related materials, their excessive and destabilising accumulation, trafficking, possession and use of firearms, because of their links with, inter alia, drug trafficking, terrorism, transnational organised crime, mercenary and other violent criminal activities.

The Protocol focuses on developing sub-regional cooperation and coordination on:

Legislative measures


Disposal of confiscated or unlicensed firearms


Improving operational capacity


Control over civilian possession of firearms


State-owned firearms and the disposal of State-owned firearms


Marking and record-keeping


Voluntary surrender of firearms


Mutual legal assistance


Cooperation with law enforcement


Transparency and information exchange


Public education and awareness programmes

To date, two countries have ratified the Protocol and the remaining countries have promised to do so before the next SARPCCO Annual General Meeting in 2002.

As the SADC region moves towards implementation, key areas that will need to be addressed include a comparison of existing legislation to incorporate components flowing from the Protocol and identifying the training needs to improve and strengthen operational capacity of law enforcement agencies.

SARPCCO: Policing the region

The escalation of cross-border criminal activity in Southern Africa led to regional Chiefs of Police forming the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-Operation Organisation in August 1995. The twelve member countries are: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Firearms trafficking has long been a priority in crime prevention for SARPCCO and the organisation has supported several joint operations to recover weapons. The largest has been Operations Rachel, which has collected and destroyed some 4,000 small arms and light weapons and 488,000 rounds of ammunition and other explosives. Other operations include Operation Midas, during which 17 illegal firearms were recovered, Operation Atlantic, which recovered 21 firearms and Operation Sesani, which saw the collection of 50 firearms. These operations are ongoing and SARPCCO will continue to prioritise reducing the trafficking of firearms and their use in crime in Southern Africa.

Comores: Arms management at work in Anjouan

Between December 2001 and February 2002, the Organization of African Unity sent an observer mission to the Comoros (OMIC) to supervise the collection of weapons on the island of Anjouan. The mission was part of the implementation of the Framework Agreement for the Reconciliation in the Comoros, concluded in February 2001.

During the mission in Anjouan, the fourteen observers from South Africa, Mauritius, Mozambique and Togo worked with the local gendarmerie and the Comorian Defence Force to ensure that procedures were put in place to encourage the responsible stockpiling, management and use of weapons by civilians and government forces on the island.

The OAU observers were given lists by the Anjouanese authorities of all weapons known to be in the possession of the gendarmerie, armed forces and civilians. These lists gave a total of 415 weapons in circulation on the island, 346 of which (83%) were inspected and collected during the mission. Other weapons were retained by gendarmerie and defence force personnel or could not be located.

The weapons collection was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, weapons collection points were established in three sites on the island and weapons were brought to the collection points to be checked against the arms registry and put into one of three armouries on the island. In the second phase of the collection programme, mobile collection units were used, which went to the individuals listed as possessing weapons. Again, these weapons were checked against the available lists and collected for storage.

The observer mission also recognised the need to ensure that defence force and gendarmerie personnel were not hoarding weapons, and so undertook inspections at the 4 defence force bases and 11 gendarmerie posts on the island. Each official was allocated one weapon and a set amount of ammunition. In some instances, this required the collection of additional weapons from officers.

The three armouries on the island were also checked and lists made of all weapons contained in the armouries. To ensure that the collected weapons were secure, a dual-key system was initiated, whereby OMIC held one key and the defence force the other. The OMIC key was returned to the Anjouan armed forces at a public ceremony in early February. Key recommendations of the observer mission were to ensure that the collected weapons were secured for the long-term and any obsolete or weapons inappropriate for the use by the defence forces be destroyed.

The results of the observer mission are greater than the number of weapons collected. The mission drew in the support of local government officials and the public, raising awareness on the availability of weapons on the island. Another key component of the mission was to create conditions conducive to the holding of presidential elections in March 2002. By decreasing the number of weapons in circulation and increasing the controls on the weapons under the possession of the government, OMIC played an important role in increasing confidence in the security situation on the island.

Visit the OAU Amall Arms Website:
www.small-arms.co.za and the updated ISS website www.issafrica.org

Contributors:
Sarah Meek
Jan Kamenju
Al Shek Kamara
El Ghassim Wane
C R Payne
Gina Tholakhele
Eleanor Abrahams

This newsletter is funded by the donors of the Arms Management Programme at the Institute for Security Studies.

For more information, please contact the ISS Arms Management Programme,
PO Box 1787, Brooklyn Square, Pretoria 0075.
Tel: +27 12 346 9500 Fax: +27 12 460 0998
email: general@iss.org.za