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West African states will now have to seek permission from their collective economic grouping, ECOWAS, before importing light weapons in the subregion for peacekeeping, hunting, training or sporting activities, the United Nations said on Monday.
This is one of the provisions of a Code of Conduct the leaders agreed to in their two-day Lome summit that ended on 10 December, centering on conflict prevention, resolution and management. The edict constitutes a waiver for countries wishing to import arms during a moratorium on small weapons imports, exports and manufacture.
The suspension on arms trading and manufacture was approved at an ECOWAS summit on 31 October 1998 in Abuja, Nigeria. It came into force on 1 November that year for a renewable three-year period.
The Lome summit also approved a prototype regional arms register and database on light weapons. This register will contain information on the import, export, manufacture, seizures and holdings of the seven categories of arms and ammunition covered by the moratorium.
The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa in Lome, Togo, which is part of the Department for Disarmament Affairs, will host the arms register and database.
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