West African Nations Track Small Arms

By ADF Last updated Jan 14, 2015

A rifle is engraved during the launch of the Sierra Leone Weapons Marking and Computerisation Programme. ACTION ON ARMED VIOLENCE

[ACTION ON ARMED VIOLENCE]

ADF STAFF

Several nations in West Africa are making major strides in complying with the Economic Community of West African States Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons by marking and tracking all arms within their borders.

In Ghana, the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons announced plans to engrave the ECOWAS logo on all arms in the country as international standards demand.

The move is part of a wide range of measures to control movement of small arms in the country, commission Executive Secretary Jones Borteye Applerh announced in April 2014. “We are trying to put the ECOWAS logo on the guns … so that when a state gun leaks, we can trace it to the source,” he said.

Applerh added that the commission has begun registering guns within military and paramilitary bodies in the country, and that soon will be expanded to civilians.

Similarly in Sierra Leone, the National Commission on Small Arms has instituted a computerization program to mark all state-owned and civilian weapons with registration codes. The process involves engraving weapons with unique, indentifiable information, including the ECOWAS logo, the Sierra Leone country code, security agency code, date and weapon serial number, according to reporting by the group Action on Armed Violence. AOAV donated the machines and sponsored a member of the military and police to travel to the United States for training on operating the machines. These officers later returned to Sierra Leone and each trained 10 people.

Adopted in 2006, the ECOWAS Convention requires signatories to mark weapons and create a national database for all small arms and light weapons within their nations.