Body set up to monitor arms imports

Burkina Faso has agreed to set up a body to monitor weapons imports following persistent allegations that it has been smuggling arms to anti-government forces in Sierra Leone and Angola, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Sunday. It credited the Burkina Faso Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying the committee’s duration should be three years. The government has banned visits by its nationals to Sierra Leone and Angola, except those on official government business, BBC said, and also trade in conflict diamonds. African foreign ministers agreed, at a four-day meeting that ended on 30 November in Bamako, on a common position to improve the monitoring of trafficking and availability of small arms on the continent.