The government yesterday warned refugees who have been behind the increasing number of small arms in the country to surrender their weapons to responsible authorities.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Home Affairs, Major General
Projest Rwegasira sounded the warning when speaking at a workshop on
firearms and the Ammunition Control Act 2015 organised by Regional
Centre on Small Arms (RECSA).
He admitted that the proliferation of small arms was a result of
refugees entering the country and urged them to stop the smuggling.
Rwegasira also used the platform to ask the international community
to adopt a system of creating safe havens in conflict-torn countries,
with a view to preventing internal strife from spilling into
neighbouring countries.
The PS also called upon those who possess arms legally to verify their weapons in time to reduce the spread of illegal arms.
He said the current law provided a mandate for the government to
announce to owners of small arms to appear for verification of their
weapons.
For his part, RECSA executive secretary Theoneste Mutsindsyaka said
there were 875 million small arms and light weapons that were in
circulation across the world, whereby 100 million of them were illegally
circulated in Africa.
The centre also stated that the estimates indicated that every
minute one person dies from armed violence and 10 other are injured due
to illegal possession of light weapons.
He said the African continent had experienced and continued to
experience conflicts and transnationally organised crimes including
recent terrorism fueled by the easy availability of small arms and light
weapons (SALW).
“This has led to devastating effects such as deaths of innocent
civilians and refugees as well as internal displacement of communities
and stagnated development, among other negative effects,” the official
said.
“As a result of this menace, there is strong desire and commitment
on the continent to address the problems resulting from proliferation
of illicit SALW,” he detailed.
Africa, particularly the Great Lakes Region, continues to be
engulfed by small arms and light weapons that are easily accessible and
carried by individuals.
However, there have been several mechanisms put in place in East
Africa to address the problem of SALW; they include the Nairobi Protocol
on Prevention, Control and Reduction of Small Arms and Light Weapons,
while in West Africa the mechanism is coordinated under the ECOWAS. In
the Southern parts of the continent the coordination is spearheaded by
SADC while in Central Africa it is coordinated by the Kinshasa
Convention.
Tanzania has been the beneficiary of the Africa Union (AU)
–European Union (EU) project funded by the Weapons Removal Abatement in
the US government. Tanzania has benefitted from USD 15,000 in drafting
the Firearms and Ammunition Control Act.
RECSA is the only body whose sole mandate is to address the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons.
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