Deadly small arms trade

The illegal transfer and manufacture of small arms is one the main obstacles in the way of the continent achieving workable solutions to the many conflicts currently raging, a regional analyst told IRIN on Friday.

"There can be no real stability in Africa until the illegal small arms trade is stemmed, the influx of small weapons are fuelling these conflicts," he said. "Small arms are easy to buy, fairly inexpensive and normally require very little training. These factors alone make them one of, if not the, primary tools of violence in Africa."

According to the analyst the ease of access makes the trade difficult to monitor. A recent report by the International Confederation of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the number of small arms manufacturers had increased by an estimated 25 percent between 1985 and 1995.

According to the analyst one of the main sources has been the former Soviet Union where there is a "massive surplus of arms, just waiting for willing buyer at the right price." Other sources include Europe and The People's Republic of China.

But he added that there were also suppliers from within the continent, such as Mozambique and Lesotho in southern Africa. He said that with the end of the civil war in Mozambique there were "huge stockpiles of weapons that have found themselves in other parts of the region at some time or the other." In the case of Lesotho, he said the chaos in the country at the time of the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) intervention last year, "saw small arms caches go missing, that were up for grabs to the highest bidder."

This week the Malawi media reported that the proliferation of small arms, particularly AK-47 assault rifles, was threatening the security of the country and having a "devastating effect" on the economy. According to the news reports, Malawi became a "dumping ground" after the 1992 Mozambique peace agreement.

At its meeting in Algiers this week, the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) said that it had mandated its Secretary-General, Salim Achmed Salim, to convene a regional conference on small arms. According to media reports the conference would seek solutions to the illegal use, transfer and manufacture of small arms. The OAU said that it "welcomed" any protocol that might regulate illegal small weapons on the continent.