THE EAST AFRICAN
Security chiefs in East and Southern Africa believe new technology and a shared approach are needed to combat arms smuggling.
Delegates from 26 African countries gathered in Nairobi in March 2024 for a regional preparatory meeting in advance of a United Nations conference on preventing, combating, and eradicating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW).
An attendee called the proliferation of weapons an “existential threat” to the continent’s stability.
“Small and light weapons continue to wreak havoc in communities, fuel conflict, undermine peace and stability, and hinder socioeconomic development in the African continent,” said Kenya’s Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo.
The African Union is discussing the need for a common policy among member states. The continental body and member states also are looking to acquire new tools for tracing weapons from source to end user as well as machines for weapons recycling.
Christopher Kayoshe, AU acting head of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration/Security Sector Reform Division, said this will help achieve the AU’s “silencing the guns” goal.
“It is our desire that the continent is guided by a common position so that these deliberated meetings involved in the AU Commission are valuable,” he said.
Of the 40 million small arms circulating on the African continent, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research estimates that 40% are illicit. Globally, 1 billion small arms are in circulation and kill about 250,000 people each year.
These weapons account for 45% of all violent deaths globally with the data from the U.N. indicating that 260,000 people were killed by small arms in 2021 alone.
The U.N.’s Fourth Review Conference focused on implementing the U.N.’s 2005 International Tracing Instrument that calls for each SALW armament to carry unique identification details and for nations to keep records of weapons within their borders.