Arms clean-up success

The latest phase of a unique joint arms control operation between Mozambique and South Africa has been deemed a major success, penetrating for the first time northern Mozambique, a security analyst told IRIN this week. Operation Rachel, launched in 1995, is a joint police operation designed to find and destroy caches of weapons left over from Mozambique’s civil war. This month, police teams involved in Operation Rachel VII (1), moved from Sofala province in the centre of the country to Tete in the north - an area that was under the control of RENAMO rebels during the 13-year-long conflict. “The police think the operation was more successful than any of the previous ones,” said Ettienne Hennop, a researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute of Security Studies who was briefed by senior police officials on Tuesday. “They believe the further north they go, the bigger the recovery and destruction will get.” But it is also raising the cost of the operations. The deeper into Mozambique the demolition teams venture, the heavier the bill for vehicle wear-and-tear, helicopters and the allowances for the police officers. Although the European Union contributes, the bulk of the funds are provided by South Africa. “It’s a huge, expensive thing. Sending police to Mozambique comes from (police departments) local budgets,” Hennop noted. Mozambique and South Africa in the early 1990s were both navigating a difficult transition after decades of political violence. Operation Rachel was launched to prevent weapons of war left over from the Mozambican conflict leaking into criminal networks, fuelling violent crime and destabilising the region. Several operations later, “what they are destroying now doesn’t have an impact on South Africa (in terms of arms smuggling), but peace and stability in Mozambique does,” Hennop noted. As South African criminals establish domestic sources of weapons, it is South African business and investments in Mozambique that stand to gain from Operations Rachel. The programme is reliant on information provided by local informers, who receive a modest payment for their services and an amnesty from prosecution. According to an ISS report, the operations are predicated on cooperation with the local communities rather than prosecutions. This “unorthodoxy” is based on the belief that community support is vital, and amnesties are necessary to preserve the reconciliation process. With rewards distributed at the discretion of the police officers, the value can be bargained over depending on the quality of the information. “Informers were thus mobilised to disclose further caches that they were aware of, and were encouraged to pass on their experience to other potential informers,” the ISS said. After initial teething problems related to working practices between the two police forces, the operations have become both routine and increasingly ad hoc. “Everything depends on the amount of intelligence and the urgency,” Hennop said. “If the intelligence networks provide enough information it goes into the operation planning phase. But there are also ad hoc or smaller operations, if they find a cache that needs to be destroyed quickly so it doesn’t get moved.” The Mozambican authorities provide the intelligence, manpower and much of the transport facilities. South Africa officers bring the explosives, and demolition expertise for the on-site neutralisation of the weapons stores, many of which were set up by South African special forces in support of RENAMO during the war. A total of 13,550 small arms were destroyed between 1995 and May 2000, along with 3.4 million rounds of ammunition. In Hennop’s estimation: “I think it’s one of the biggest success stories Africa has seen. If you want to have peace and stability in a country that has been wracked by war, this is what you need. And it can be replicated in other countries.” He is, however, disappointed that Mozambique’s neighbours have not participated either in a cost-sharing arrangement or through direct involvement. “More can be done,” the researcher said, “the momentum must not be lost.” For more details on Operation Rachel see: http://www.iss.co.za/