Weapon prices plummet
2005-05-05 13:59
Mogadishu - Arms dealers in Mogadishu, once the most prosperous of merchants in lawless Somalia, have begun to complain of hard times as prices for weapons plummet, ahead of the expected arrival of regional peacekeepers.
After 14 years of anarchy, Somalia's thriving munitions trade is far from dead, but armament vendors in the capital are lamenting a decline in demand, resulting in a 20% fall in prices of many of their most popular items.
With the country girding for the anticipated deployment in coming weeks of Ugandan and Sudanese troops at the vanguard of an up to 10 000-strong African Union (AU)—authorised peacekeeping mission, sales are down, they say.
"The prices of small arms have not changed but heavy machineguns are losing value because those which are visible could be seized by AU troops," said arms dealer Ahmed Abdullae.
To be sure, Mogadishu is still a city awash in weapons where heavily armed militiamen routinely alight from "technicals" — pick-ups with anti-aircraft artillery or large-calibre machine guns mounted in their wells — to peruse open-air weapons displays.
An explosion at a Mogadishu stadium that killed at least 15 people during a speech by transitional Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on Tuesday was the latest incident to highlight weapons-related insecurity.
Gun prices down
But at Bakara, the capital's largest bazaar, assault rifles, a staple in the arsenal of any self-respecting militiaman, are now a glut on the market, arms dealers say, complaining of sagging profits and, in some cases, actual losses.
Stolen mainly from failed UN and US stabilisation missions in the 1990s, the price for a venerable Russian-made AK-47 has dropped from $325 to $260, from $185 to $150 for a German G3 and from $100 to $80 for an American M-16, they say.
"The American guns are cheapest because you can't get the ammunition," said one dealer who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A scarcity of bullets is another contributing factor to the decline in gun sales, according to dealers and militia fighters who said a lack of ammunition was having a chilling effect on their lifestyles.
And, as one merchant lamented in most businesslike terms, the bottom has fallen out of the market for anti-personnel and anti-tank landmines, dropping 20% to $120 and $70 respectively.
"There's been little demand for landmines in the past year," he said matter-of-factly.
Still hope among vendors of peace resistance
Even as prices fall, however, there is an undercurrent of hope among arms vendors that business will turn around if Mogadishu's various warlords decide to resist the peacekeepers.
"Some factions will appreciate the presence of the AU forces and others will oppose and fight against them," said one Bakara merchant.