Experts meet on small arms trafficking and proliferation

Experts from African nations this week urged their governments and regional institutions to establish mechanisms to step up the fight against the proliferation of small arms in Africa. The call came in a declaration drafted at a conference held on 27-29 November in Bamako, Mali, Napoleon Abdulai of the Lome-based Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa told IRIN on Thursday. Some 500 experts from Organisation of African Unity (OAU) members states, the United Nations, non-governmental organisations and research institutions attended the meeting. The draft declaration on a common African position on the illegal proliferation, circulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons comes up for adoption at a two-day OAU ministerial meeting that began on Thursday in the Malian capital. [See separate item titled ‘AFRICA: Experts examine ways to curb proliferation of small arms’]