Commission created to counter arms flow

Burkina Faso’s government has created a commission to control the proliferation of light weapons and oversee implementation of the international ban on anti-personnel mines, PANA reported on Thursday. It quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying that the body would come under the office of the prime minister. The commission was created following the decision by African countries, at a January meeting in Bamako, to act against the circulation of light and small weapons. In December 2000, Burkina Faso decided to set up a body to monitor weapons imports amid persistent allegations that it was a source of weapons for anti-government forces in Sierra Leone and Angola. The UN has since accused Ouagadougou of violating the embargo on trade in arms and diamonds with the two rebel forces.