WAANSA hands over Draft Convention on Small Arms And Light Weapons to ECOWAS Secretariat

6 October 2005

Major General Charles Okae receives the draft Convention from Baffour Amoa

The Chairman of West Africa Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA), Mr Baffour Dokyi Amoa, on 5 October 2005 in Abuja, Nigeria handed over a Draft Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons proposed by civil society of West Africa to HE Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS. The Chairman of WAANSA was accompanied by the Secretary of WAANSA, Ms Afi Yakubu.

The document was received on behalf of the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS by Major General Charles Okae (Rtd), Director of Defence and Security. In his remarks, he noted that the delivery of the document was very timely, among other things. He thanked the delegation and WAANSA as a body for the great support to the ECOWAS Authority and promised to pass it on to the Executive Secretary for action.

WAANSA delegation at the ECOWAS Secretariat

On arrival from Abuja, Mr Amoa observed that the cordial relationship between ECOWAS and WAANSA will push the fight against the proliferation of small arms to the frontiers of self minimization or total eradication of the menace.

In handing over the document prepared by a team of experts and discussed and adopted by civil society at a forum in March 2005 in Mali, Bamako with the financial support of Oxfam-Great Britain and Oxfam-America, Mr Amoa highlighted the contents of the draft Convention which respects the tenets of the ECOWAS Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Light Weapons.

He observed that a legally binding instrument will help regulate the manufacture, procurement, possession, transfer, brokering and management of small arms and light weapons in the West Africa Sub-region. The damage small arms have already caused and the potential threat thereof to the stability of our Nations are well known to the people of West Africa and the world at large.

The draft ECOWAS Convention

The Draft Convention covers, among other important areas, issues of exemptions, transparency and information exchange, review and harmonization of administrative and legislative provisions, operational aspects, including strengthening of boarder controls, public education and awareness programmes, marking and tracing, brokerage and marketing. Other areas are institutional arrangements, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the protocol, and ends with some final provisions on entry into force, amendments, withdrawal and depository authority.

The most significant features of the Draft Convention are that it draws attention to gender perspectives and local manufacture of small arms and light weapons. The other significant distinction is the affirmation of the ECOWAS Moratorium which provides critical building blocks for the Convention.

WAANSA is grateful to its members, the team of experts and collaborators from National Commissions as well as friends from several international organizations and NGOs who participated in the process which led to the conclusion of the draft Convention.

Further, WAANSA wishes to call on the people of our beloved sub region to rise up and be countered in the fight against the proliferation of small arms. WAANSA pleads with parties experiencing difficult differences to remember that the best means to resolve differences is to sit around the table and dialogue over time until an amicable settlement is reached.

The use of arms in the resolution of differences only creates a vicious cycle of violence which is extremely time-consuming and costly to tame. We hope that it will not take too long for the ECOWAS Moratorium to become a Convention and make peace the most valuable regional asset. Such an asset will do nothing but help speed up the development of our sub region.

WAANSA takes this opportunity to wish the citizens of Liberia peaceful elections.

Electronically Signed by Afi Yakubu (Secretary, WAANSA)
6 October 2005
Accra
Ghana.