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Arms stunting E African growth
20/11/2002 17:17 - (SA)
Addis Ababa - East Africa's economic development is stunted by the flow of illegal small arms in the region, and women and children are the main victims of the scourge, experts attending a conference in the Ethiopian capital warned.
"The broad proliferation of small arms is a constant threat and a constant hindrance for the development of the region," Kiflemariam Gebrewold of the Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC) said late on Tuesday.
The traffic in small arms, which are easy easily obtainable in east Africa, exacerbates conflicts, cattle rustling and other forms of crime in the region, according to the organisers of the conference on small arms proliferation.
They said the victims of the illegal trade were mainly women and children.
In some countries in the Horn of Africa, "women like children are recruited by force and forced to serve under arms", according to a study carried out by BICC, a German-based organisation.
In other countries, such as Uganda and Eritrea, "women are regular members of the 'liberation armies' (and) voluntarily carry Kalashnikovs (assault rifles)," the study said.
It also showed that in Somalia, which has seen more than a decade of anarchic bloodletting since the 1991 overthrow of President Mohammed Siad Barre, women were largely responsible for the smuggling of ammunition.
But Hiruth Gebreselassie of the African Women's Committee for Peace and Development noted that African women "have always been a stabilising factor".
She urged that women be allowed to play a more important role in conflict resolution.
Janet Amoo of the African Union's office of Peace and Security told the conference that "the illicit proliferation of small arms in the region and Africa as a whole is of great concern for the AU".
The conference was organised by the BICC and the Peace and Development Committee and was attended by some 50 international experts, government officials and diplomats.
Ministers and government officials from 10 countries in Africa's volatile Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions signed a declaration to regulate the production of small arms after a meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi last August.
Parties to the Nairobi declaration pledged to improve the operational capacity of their police forces, customs officials, border guards, military and the judiciary in order to combat trafficking in small arms. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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