The extent and object of security policies have evolved considerably in the last decade. The evolution of perceived security threats has changed as has thinking about security from a traditional, national perspective to co-operative security. This latter concept is an important way in which to address the security threats identified above before they undermine the ability of countries to govern.

In Africa, as in other regions world-wide, the role of regional organisations as a forum in which the exchange of information, discussions and policy formulation can be undertaken is often overlooked. This conference was enhanced by the presence of representatives from several regional and international organisations, including L’ANAD, OAU, Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), UNESCO and Interpol, among others. The presentations made on the work of these organisations and the ways in which each could further discussions and actions on the control of the proliferation of small arms was of great value.

Major A. W. Tapfumaneyi: The Southern African Development Community

In Southern Africa, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is the regional organisation for both economic and security issues. The latter area is the concern of the Organ for Politics, Defence and Security and security considerations from ‘SADC proper’ (i.e. economic development). Through the establishment of the Organ, SADC has moved away from an ad hoc approach to addressing common foreign and security issues. The Organ will abide by the same principles as those of SADC, including the sovereign equality of all member states, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the observance of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Its objectives include:

safeguarding the region against instability from within and outside its borders;



promoting political co-operation and common political values and institutions (this commits SADC to the promotion of democracy and an observance of human rights);



developing a common foreign policy and a joint international lobby on issues of common interest;



security and defence co-operation through conflict prevention, management and resolution;



mediation of disputes and conflicts;



preventative diplomacy and mechanisms, with punitive measures, as a last resort;



sustainable peace and security through peace-making and peacekeeping;



development of a collective security capacity and a Mutual Defence Pact, and regional peacekeeping capacity;



co-ordination of participation of members in international and regional peacekeeping operations; and



the addressing of extra-regional conflicts which impact on peace and security in Southern Africa (confirming that SADC does not have an inward orientation, but acknowledges the realities of its position in the region).

The intention expressed by regional leaders is for the Organ to operate at Summit, ministerial and technical levels, separately from other SADC structures. Exactly how this is to work in practice is still unclear, but what is evident is that the chairing of the SADC (currently President Mandela) and the Organ (currently President Mugabe) will ensure a differentiation of the two institutions at the level of the Heads of State and Government. At present the annual SADC Heads of State and Government summit meeting has instituted a practice of commenting upon sources of concern within each of the SADC countries.

Pending the outcome of the discussions on SADC and the Organ, a need for more technical co-operation processes has come to the fore. The SARPCCO is the one subregional organisation with a specific mandate to address issues of cross-border crime, including firearms trafficking.

Frank Msutu: The Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation
(Written submission by Mr Msutu, Head of Interpol Southern African region.)

The Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO), which came into being on 2 August 1995 in Zimbabwe, when the Chiefs of Police of the Southern African Region decided to form an organisation through which they could co-operate to meet their common goals, is the primary operational mechanism in Southern Africa for the practical work being undertaken to prevent cross-border crime, including the trafficking of weapons.

The objectives of SARPCCO are:

to promote, strengthen and perpetuate co-operation and foster joint strategies for the management of all forms of cross border and related crimes with regional implications;



to prepare and disseminate such relevant information on criminal activities as may be necessary to enable members to contain crime in the region.



to carry out regular reviews of joint crime management strategies in view of changing national and regional needs and priorities.



to ensure efficient operation and management of criminal records and effective joint monitoring of cross border crime, taking full advantage of the relevant facilities available through Interpol.



to make relevant recommendations to governments of member countries in relation to matters affecting effective policy in the Southern African region.



to formulate systematic regional police training policies and strategies, taking into account the needs and performance requirements of the regional police services forces.



to carry out any such relevant and appropriate acts and strategies as are necessary for purposes of promoting regional police co-operation and as circumstances dictate.

Illegal firearms trafficking has been identified as one of the priority crimes in this sub-region by the Chiefs of Police of SARPCCO. For this reason, the Endangered Species and Firearms desk was set up to deal with the issues related to firearms trafficking. The main problem in this regard lies in the use of these weapons for the commission of robberies and other similar crimes. So far the Liaison Officer responsible for this desk has, by means of questionnaires, been seeking information and intelligence from all countries in the region in order to assess the volume of the problem. Some replies have been received but the study is not yet complete.

In addition to the Southern African regional organisations, representatives from other organisations have made presentations on their activities and areas in which they could collaborate with others on the issue of weapons proliferation. The presentation by the representative of the OAU is given in Section Three.

Moumouni Yacouba: Accord de Non-agression et d’Assistance en matière de Défense (Agreement on Non-aggression, Assistance and Mutual Defence)

In West Africa it is L’ANAD that is the regional organisation for security matters. Although its concerns are chiefly related to non-aggression and assistance on matters of defence, it has also expressed an interest in involving itself in efforts to reduce the circulation of light weapons.

L’ANAD has seven members: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Guinea Bissau and Gambia participate as observers and Benin has asked to join. Although initially a francophone organisation, with its increased membership, L’ANAD now includes anglophone countries.

Created in 1977, L’ANAD has as it principles non-aggression and mutual assistance on matters of defence. Member states undertake not to go to war with each other and to assist each other in case of conflict. The colonial borders are recognised and mutual assistance is provided for civilian protection and the protection of member states’ economies, including against smuggling, poaching, and like activities. The secretariat of the organisation is based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The organisation operates with two organs, the Council of Ministers and the Organ of Heads of State. A number of legal instruments has been adopted by the members, including protocols on the exchange of information between security forces, mutual assistance and a convention on co-operation on judicial matters, including the harmonisation of laws among countries (e.g., extradition). In April 1996, a final communiqué was signed which asks countries to co-ordinate actions to prevent causes for instability in the region, including crime and arms trafficking. New national laws and a common strategy among members to combat cross-border crime in West Africa are being developed.

An agency, to form part of the L’ANAD secretariat, will be created to centralise and co-ordinate activities. It will include a facility to collect, assess and use information. Part of its function will be to co-ordinate activity with other regional organisations and the UN on issues of common concern.

Mohamed Caabi: Indian Ocean Commission

The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) is a regional governmental organisation. Its members include Réunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, and the Seychelles. It was created fifteen years ago as an organisation for economic co-operation. It receives support from the EU via the Lomé Convention and has set up common programmes with the EU on issues such as weather forecasting and trade promotion. Its current structure makes it difficult for the organisation to be involved in security issues, for example, those related to arms trafficking. It has neither the competence nor the means to address the matter. However, the organisation and its members are, as a matter of course, interested in external threats to political and social security, and the stability of the region.

The IOC would be interested in seeing the creation of a regional mechanism to collect information on causes and reasons for violence. Recognising financial and technical restraints, the organisation could have a role in such a mechanism, assisting countries in collaboration and other ways.

International Organisations

There are a multitude of other international organisations which are involved in Africa, including the UN and its many agencies. At the conference, representatives from two international organisations, UNESCO (the UN Education, Social and Cultural Organisation) and Interpol, both of which are actively engaged in Africa, made presentations.

Florence Ssereo: UNESCO

The representative from UNESCO spoke on its Culture of Peace programme which undertakes to transform post-conflict countries from cultures of violence to those of peace.

The reversal of a culture of violence in Africa: UNESCO’s experience

Weapons symbolise physical force and armed conflicts characterise a culture of violence. The practices of violence and war have strong impacts on life and on social, cultural and economic activities as well as effecting major changes. A culture of violence has implications for democracy, human rights, peace and development, depending on the dynamics, role players and the socio-cultural contexts.

In this perspective, control of the use of weapons and their proliferation is an important issue in the reversal of violence. Initiatives and projects aimed at the reversal of violence should be understood as contributing to the promotion of a culture of peace, because the ultimate goals are peace, security and development.

The UNESCO transdisciplinary project, Towards a Culture of Peace, was launched in 1996 to renew emphasis on the organisation’s constitutional mandate: to build the defences of peace in the minds of men and women. The project was strengthened by the General Conference in 1997. Activities undertaken by programme sectors fall into three main areas of priority:

Education and training for peace, human rights, democracy, tolerance and international understanding, including elaboration and dissemination of teaching materials and pedagogical aids in different languages;



Policy-oriented research, advocacy action and exchange of information;



Capacity-building and technical support for national, subregional and international projects.

Given the fact that a culture of peace cannot be imposed from without but must be understood as a long-term process growing out from the people themselves and developing differently in each country, depending on its history, culture and traditions, UNESCO is organising national fora in which all parties of the society may participate, in order to bring together recommendations and actions on a culture of peace. The elaboration of the activities of the national culture of peace programmes is based on these recommendations and actions. Operational activities include:

Daily radio shows and informal education campaigns targeted at poor women in El Salvador. Topics covered include violence, discrimination, human rights and health.



Teaching of peace, human rights and democracy, in collaboration with the University of Burundi and the UN Centre for Human Rights in Burundi.



Support for peace-building and reconciliation activities in Angola, including a project for the ‘Angolan peace song’ which has brought together Angola’s top musicians to write and perform the song.

Victoria Lester: The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol)

Interpol has 177 members, making it second only to the UN in terms of membership. Each member country has a national co-ordination bureau (NCB) with an officer responsible for co-ordinating all requests for information to and from Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France. Interpol’s mission is twofold: to provide for mutual assistance between police; and to engage in the prevention and suppression of ordinary crimes. Operating internationally, Interpol is faced with challenges provided by different languages, national structures and legal systems. Interpol uses the NCBs and regional offices to minimise these obstacles, but recognises the difficulty they can pose to other cross-regional initiatives. Access to information that Interpol collects must come via a request from the national police of a member country.

Interpol works to facilitate the exchange of criminal information among law enforcement bodies in member states. It works with countries to assist them in developing the capacity to be able to run the computer system used (the X400 messaging system) and has embarked on a regional modernisation programme to this end. The modernisation programme provides equipment and training to regions as necessary to allow them to link into the X400 system.

Interpol currently has two subregional offices in Africa, one in Abidjan and the other in Harare. A third, for East Africa, is due to open in Nairobi. In Harare, the Southern African regional office also acts as headquarters for SARPCCO.

Key to Interpol’s work on firearms is its International Weapons and Explosives Tracking System (IWETS) database. It is the only international database which records information on manufacturer, calibre, model and finish of weapons used for international criminal purposes. Members are asked to supply information to the IWETS database on incidents involving:

Known international firearms traffickers


Involvement of foreign nationals


Large seizures of foreign weapons that have not been legally imported


Use of weapons for terrorist purposes


Involvement of drugs


Theft from manufacturer, dealer, importer or exporter.

This last category has become especially important, given the speed with which weapons move from their point of origin to other areas and countries.

The majority of the information in the IWETS database relates to seized firearms, bombing incidents and firearm thefts. Most of the information is currently provided by European countries, although efforts are being made to increase reporting from African, Asian and Latin American countries.

Interpol is also involved in the tracing of weapons used in crime, determining the manufacturer, stages of ownership, routes and other relevant facts. In the course of its work, the organisation has identified critical areas that need further control to prevent the continued proliferation of firearms. These include:

Regulation of manufacture, including maintenance of sales records, duplication of serial numbers, etc.



Maintenance of out-of-business records



Verification of licensed shipments



Standardisation of import and export forms, regionally and internationally



Standards for developing tracing centres.

Interpol works closely with the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the members of the Group of Eight and the World Customs Organisation, providing technical expertise and recommendations for policy actions.