Appendix

Existing Small Arms Initiatives: Their Effect on Southern Africa

The United Nations has been actively pursuing an agenda conducive to the control and eventual reduction of the proliferation of small arms since 1995. Various initiatives have been started, as well as specific actions taken in this regard. Among these, it is worthwhile noting the following:

European Union

Since 1997, several EU arms initiatives are under way. Among these, the following stand out:

It is worth noting that the most important development to date under the first of these initiatives has been the development of a Southern African Action Programme on Light Arms and Illicit Trafficking generated at a seminar of EU and SADC officials in May 1998 and hosted by the Institute for Security Studies, South Africa and Saferworld, United Kingdom. This Action Programme was endorsed by EU and SADC Foreign ministers at their Ministerial Meeting of November 1998. A second consultation on technical points for implementation of this programme was organised in September 1999 in South Africa as is referred to below.

At the 68th ordinary session of the OAU Council of Ministers, held in Ouagadougou in June 1998, a resolution (Dec CM/Dec. 432) was passed in which the council:

Thus, at the 35th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU which met in Algiers during July 1999, the OAU renewed its commitment to limit small arms proliferation, circulation and trafficking. In its final declaration, the OAU decided, inter alia, to:

Furthermore, the OAU Secretariat has been issuing a quarterly newsletter1 to all its members since December 1998, on the issue of small arms proliferation in Africa. This is designed to sensitise governments to the need to give priority to discussions related to the control of arms proliferation on the continent.

A co-ordinated, determined and comprehensive regional ‘action programme’ on light weapons proliferation and illicit arms trafficking is needed in Southern Africa. To enhance capacity in the region to develop and implement such a programme, and to reinforce its effectiveness, co-operation with the European Union (EU) and other members of the international community is being developed, particularly through the EU-SADC dialogue and within the structures of SARPCCO.

Steps in this direction are already being taken. In May 1998, government officials participated in a meeting sponsored by two non-governmental organisations (Saferworld, UK and the Institute for Security Studies, South Africa) to discuss a programme of action that could be undertaken in a co-operative fashion between the member states of SADC and the EU. The results of this programme of action have been discussed at subsequent meetings in Brussels and Vienna and have the potential to lead to a comprehensive approach towards the control of arms trafficking. Four principal areas of co-operation have been identified:

This agenda for action reflects the nature and scope of the problem as the challenges of weapons proliferation and arms trafficking are complex and no single policy response would be adequate. Programmes to address illicit arms trafficking must be combined with actions to strengthen controls on legally owned arms; remove, destroy or safely dispose of excess or confiscated arms; and enhance transparency, information collection and exchange, and consultation across the region. In this model, the programme of action on illicit arms should be co-ordinated across the Southern African region, so that local and national actions are mutually reinforcing and appropriate actions are taken at regional level. It should build upon and further strengthen regional institutions and structures. The regional programme must also be integrated with wider programmes to promote individual and community security; implement peace agreements; and advance post-conflict reconstruction, economic and social development, and good governance — both within the region and across Africa. The current challenge is to encourage countries in both the EU and SADC to work together in implementing those steps towards combating the proliferation of light weapons that will work in each country.

During September 1999, a further meeting between EU and SADC officials took place in South Africa to begin implementation of the Action Programme. The main themes of this conference were ways in which the control of illicit small arms-trafficking in Southern Africa could be enhanced; the need to improve legal controls and regulations over licenced firearms; and ways in which the culture of violence produced by an increased availability of firearms could be reduced. Among the practical recommendations emerging from this seminar, the following stand out:

An important decision was taken during the annual SADC Summit of 1999 in Maputo. The Council of Ministers agreed to constitute a special SADC Committee on all issues related to small arms which will begin its operations at the end of 1999. Similarly, the EU-SADC Co-operation Executive Committee met in April 1999 in Cape Town and recommended the creation of an EU-SADC technical group on small arms issues. This will be considered at the EU-SADC meeting of senior government officials to take place in November 1999. With the creation of these two working groups on small arms, SADC member states will be in a position to consolidate procedures for co-operation on small arms control and disarmament initiatives, as well as to improve on EU-SADC practical co-operation in this regard.

In its endeavour to combat international and crossborder crime, the Ministerial meeting of the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) was held in Gaborone, Botswana from 27-30 July 1998. The meeting reviewed crime reports of the chiefs of police of all SARPCCO members and the general progress with the organisation’s programme.

By this meeting, regional police services had concluded three joint operations and one was still to be completed. These operations were aimed at combating motor vehicle thefts, drug-trafficking, firearms-smuggling, diamond-smuggling and other related crimes. As a result of the joint operations, 624 stolen motor vehicles, 85 firearms and 129 100 rounds of ammunition were recovered and 838 arrests were made.

"The success of the three operations during the year under review was an indication of what can be achieved when police agencies act together with a common purpose in the fight against crime," commented the final communiqué. The meeting agreed that there is a definite need to expand regional crime operations targeting arms-trafficking, vehicle theft and other crossborder crimes. Hence, it urged the Permanent Co-ordinating Committee to plan and undertake more operations of this kind.

Due to the fact that firearms are also used in other types of crime, the meeting identified firearms-trafficking as one of its priority areas. The Liaison Officer for Firearms and Endangered Species sought information and intelligence from all countries in the region in order to assess the extent of this problem. By the same token, the Legal Sub-Committee of SARPCCO began focusing on issues of the harmonisation of legislation and control over licit firearms in member states, as well as the improvement of co-operation in the detection and capture of illicit small arms across borders. As a result of these endeavours the following declaration was adopted by member states during the Annual General Meeting of SARPCCO held in Swaziland in July 1999:

"Illegal small arms and especially the illegal firearms most commonly used in the perpetration of crime, contribute to the high levels of instability, extended conflict, violence and social dislocation evident in Southern Africa and the African continent as a whole. Aware of the urgent need to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives and other related materials, and owing to the harmful effects of those activities on the security of each state and the region as a whole, and the danger they pose to the well-being of people in the region, their social and economic development and their right to live in peace, the Ministers responsible for policing in the region are concerned about these weapons and the effect they are having in the region. The Ministers have accordingly agreed to cooperate towards improving controls over small arms.

The Ministers also recognize the work of the UN, through its Group of Experts on Small Arms and the Draft Protocol Against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition and other Related materials, supplementary to the Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime; the European Union through its Programs of Action on Arms Trafficking and its December 1998 Joint Action Against the Spread of Small Arms and Light Weapons; and the Organisation of American States, through its convention against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials and its Model Regulations for the Control of the International Movement of Firearms, on small arms and illicit trafficking thereof;

The Ministers have therefore agreed to pursue, within the context of Southern Africa, those steps which may be taken to combat small arms trafficking in the region. Among those issues which will be considered are prohibitions on civilian possession of automatic and military weapons; co-ordination of procedures for the import, export and transit of small arms shipments, ensuring the registration of all small arms in a country, and, where appropriate, ensuring that proper controls be exercised over the manufacture of small arms to prevent their entrance into the illicit market; to promote the destruction of surplus arms. Through such actions, and the initiation of discussions on drafting a regional instrument on small arms, SARPCCO can contribute to preventing the further proliferation of small arms in the Southern African region."2

Further discussions at SARPCCO level have led to a prioritisation of the issue of legal controls on firearms which will lead to the creation of a regional firearm protocol among all member states of SARPCCO, as well as a plan of action for the harmonisation of firearms legislation in the region.

Aside from these subregional and regional initiatives in this respect, it is also important to note that several countries in Southern African have entered into bilateral or trilateral co-operation agreements around arms control issues. The agreement between Mozambique and South Africa has perhaps had the most success in destroying surplus weapons.

In recognition of the extent of illicit arms-smuggling, motor vehicle theft and the damaging effects which both were having on safety and security, Mozambique and South Africa signed a crime combating agreement in 1995. The agreement allows the police forces of the two countries to undertake joint operations in response to common safety and security problems.

It was recognised that arms caches in Mozambique were a main source of arms being smuggled into South African. Joint operations (known as Operations Rachel) were established to find and destroy weapons in Mozambique left over after the war.

One of the main characteristics of the operations is that they have been intelligence-driven. It was agreed that both the Mozambican and South African police forces would gather intelligence about cache locations. Subsequently, a team of Mozambican and South African police would destroy the weapons on site. South Africa pays the bulk of the costs of the operations and provides expertise on weapons and explosives disposal and destruction. As a result of increasing awareness about the programmes, private companies have become involved, giving incentives to informers who declare the location of arms caches. Often, these informers are women and children.

Operations Rachel also have an unorthodox policing approach. Attempts are made to involve individuals with information on arms caches in the operations, and they are often remunerated for disclosing the location of arms caches. The rationale behind this approach is the belief that most of the cache caretakers know about more caches. "If you prosecute at the outset you lose the person’s co-operation to disclose other caches."

Since the initiative was launched, Operations Rachel have gone from success to success. By September 1998, three such operations had taken place. Police statistics indicate that these operations have destroyed more than 300 tons of firearms and about forty million rounds of ammunition.

As a result of these successes, Operation Rachel IV was undertaken in October 1998. While previous operations focused on southern Mozambique, Rachel IV went into the central Sofala province. Over thirty bomb, explosive and firearms disposal experts of the South African Police Service and twelve Mozambican counterparts were involved in the operation. The operation destroyed over 100 tons of illegal weapons, including two cannons, assault rifles, four types of handguns, three types of detonators, eight types of mortar bombs and five types of rocket launchers.

The expectation is that, if these operations continue to be as successful as they are now, most caches in Mozambique will eventually be destroyed and hence, one of the sources of illegal weapons will have been eliminated. The lessons of Operations Rachel will prove valuable for other regions considering similar programmes.