Ministry calls for handover of illegal arms

The Interior Ministry on Monday issued a communiqué calling on “all persons holding firearms without any permit to hand them over at the nearest police station.” The statement, which has been broadcast on state radio since Monday, said “the returned firearms shall be exchanged for a receipt” to be delivered by the authorities who receive them, according to IRIN sources in Djibouti. “Illegal firearms holders have been given a notice of three days to comply... or face the prospect of being prosecuted,” the statement added. The Interior Ministry communique was released amid widespread rumours in the capital that the police armoury had been virtually emptied during last Thursday’s foiled coup, carried out by former police chief General Yacin Yabeh Galab, according to media sources. Galab has been detained by the paramilitary Gendarmerie in Djibouti since the French, with whom he had sought sanctuary on Thursday after the attempted coup, handed him over to the Djiboutian authorities on Saturday, a local journalist said. Four days after the police rebellion, an air of normality has returned to the city of Djibouti. Yet, the Interior Ministry call for the surrender of illegally held arms appears to indicate a residual nervousness among the authorities after the first coup attempt since independence.