Government cracks down on illegal arms imports

Kenya has stepped up campaigns to clear its border regions of illegal weapons brought into the country from neighbouring countries, the government recently said. Meetings in which stakeholders including neighbours, NGO experts, pastoralists and community leaders have been held in areas bordering both the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes regions to strategise on how to stamp out small arms and light weapon proliferation, IRIN was told. Northeastern region Provincial Commissioner Maurice Makhanu said that more than 1,000 illegal arms had so far been recovered in mop-up operations, while others have been surrendered voluntarily in his area which borders both Somalia and Ethiopia where weapons are readily available. A foreign affairs ministry spokesman lauded complimentary roles played by NGOs in disarmament efforts. It was against this background that Kenya initiated a regional ministerial meeting in March and another one for experts in November 2000 to map out a strategy for disarmament within its borders. These efforts meet the approval of the Organisation of African Unity which is preparing the continent’s position paper and approach to be presented at the UN disarmament assembly in July 2001 in New York, an OAU spokesman said. Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, alone accounts for 5,000 of the estimated three to five million weapons circulating within the Horn of Africa, a conflict resolution expert, Kizito Kabala, told IRIN. A former Kenyan cabinet minister, Godfrey Kariuki, however, claimed the insecurity compelled pastoral communities in northern Kenya to arm themselves against raiders from neighbouring countries. But the government has distanced itself from his remarks.