Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service)-According to an annual report issued by the independent organisation Small Arms Survey there at least 30 million small arms in Africa. The organisation, which studies the diffusion and impact of small weapons on societies in poor countries, says the situation is concerning but not without hope. According to the report “Contrary to the impression given by images of wars and violence out of all control in Africa, there are less firearms here than in the rest of the world. In all 44 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa there are no more than 30 million weapons enough to keep the wars going and increase crime but not to render the situation completely out of control and beyond all hope”.
According to Ms Virginia Gamba of the African Institute of Security Studies, interviewed by Catholic news agency in Africa DIA, a major problem is small arms in the hands of bandits and criminals in various African countries. It is estimated that in Mozambique, 12 years after the end of the civil war, there are still between half a million and 6 million small arms in circulation. In nearby South Africa there are around 400,000 to 8 million fire arms in circulation.
This is a heritage from the Cold War when the opposite blocks armed their African allies to the teeth. When the Cold War ended and with it some local connected conflicts these arms ended up feeding illegal trafficking of weapons. As a result, of some 30 million small arms in Sub-Saharan Africa at least 79% is held by civilians. Only 16% of these weapons is held by military forces, 3% by police forces and 2% guerrilla groups.
Africa’s new wars recycle weapons of old wars now ended. In the civil war in Ivory Coast started in September 2002, the weapons used came from Angola where a civil war of 25 years had just ended.
Another dramatic problem is that some African countries are now producing weapons. South Africa for example has a highly sophisticated arms industry, inherited from the times of the Apartheid. More recently Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya have started producing light firearms and ammunition.
Faced with the situation on 30 April this year the UN Commission for the Prevention of Crime formulated a recommendation to governments to sign an international agreement to counter production of arms and illegal selling and buying of light weapons. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/6/2004, righe parole)
