Experts call for control of small arms

Accra, Aug. 13, GNA - Civil society experts in West Africa have urged governments and the international community to address the surplus of small arms in the Sub-Region to prevent further weapons from arriving in contravention of UN embargoes and a regional moratorium on small arms transfers.

A statement by International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) in Accra on Wednesday said with the departure of former Liberia President Charles Taylor and the arrival of more peacekeepers, much-needed humanitarian assistance to Liberia would help address the immediate needs of a nation wrecked by 10 years of armed conflict. However, the statement said, civil society leaders think these steps are no guarantees for a lasting peace in the Region, as the fighting continues even after Mr Taylor's departure.

"Whatever happens now to build a new Liberia, attention must be re-focused on removing guns currently in circulation there," the statement quoted Mr Conmany Wesseh, Director of the West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA).

"This will help ensure that they are not recycled in on-going conflicts in Liberia and elsewhere. At the same time, all efforts must be made to stop more weapons from coming in to the Region. Certainly these measures must be part of any lasting peace agreement," he said. The statement said despite a UN embargo and a West African moratorium, arms are still being shipped illegally to the Region. It said in Liberia and its neighbours, small arms are the weapons of criminal activities, intra- and inter-communal feuds, local wars, armed insurrections, armed rebel activities and terrorism.

"Small arms are used to violate human rights, to facilitate the practice of bad governance, to subvert constitutions, to carry out coup d'=E9tats and to create and maintain a general state of fear, insecurity and instability.

It said small arms are also used to forcibly recruit children into armed conflicts and provide coercive tools for the committing of violence against women, including rape and murder.

The statement said the millions of small arms in the Region have arrived in contravention of a UN embargo and the ECOWAS Moratorium on the import, export, manufacture and sale of small arms and light weapons in West Africa.

It added that the same guns have circulated freely between neighbouring countries, including Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Guinea, thus contributing to the extensive destabilization and conflict there.