Regional small arms network formed

A new sub-regional body called the West Africa Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA) was formed in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Tuesday at the end of a two day conference, a regional disarmament expert told IRIN on Wednesday. The conference brought together NGOs from several West African countries to discuss issues including security and small arms, conflict prevention and security sector reform, Napoleon Abdulai of the Mali based Programme for Coordination and Assistance on Security and Development (PCASED), said. A coordinating group of NGO representatives from Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone, will set up focal points to gather and exchange information with its members on all aspects of the illicit trade in small arms. Delegates also discussed how to lobby West African governments to implement the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All It's Aspects, adopted at a UN conference in New York in July 2001. The region has about eight million illegal arms in circulation. The initiative to set up a West African sub-regional network came from the London-based International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), an umbrella organisation for some 400 groups world-wide. The Accra conference was hosted by the Foundation for Security and Development and received funding from organisations including IANSA, OXFAM (America and UK) and International Alert.