IANSA Update 7 November 2008

US: Election raises hope on gun laws and arms exports
DRC: UN Secretary General in crisis talks with DRC and Rwanda Presidents
US: Arms dealer on trial for supplying weapons to FARC
Timore-Leste: New website on armed violence
UK: Small arms on the agenda at UK African Women event
Other news: Vigil at School of the Americas, Valerie Yankey in UNICRI publication, workshops in Sudan, gender-based jobs worldwide

US: Election raises hope on gun laws and arms exports
The election of Barack Obama as US President should improve the political environment for progress on gun violence prevention and reducing US arms exports, according to IANSA members in the USA. Frida Berrigan of the Arms and Security Initiative pointed to several signs that the change of government could mean arms exports come under greater scrutiny. The results also constitute a huge defeat for the leadership of the National Rifle Association, which said it spent more than $10 million to tell voters that Barack Obama would be “the most anti-gun President in American history”. Read more here.

DRC: UN Secretary General in crisis talks with DRC and Rwanda Presidents
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is attending a summit in Nairobi to discuss the deepening crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr Ban is meeting DRC President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the hope of reviving the Goma peace deal signed in January. The UN reported for the first time on 4 November that Rwandan troops have been involved in the fighting. Alan Doss, the top UN envoy in Congo, said in a video conference that the "fire had come across the border from Rwanda near the Kibumba (displacement) camp where hostilities were under way." IANSA publicised evidence that Rwandan troops had taken part in a gun battle, supporting rebel troops against the Congolese army, on 7 October.

US: Arms dealer on trial for supplying weapons to FARC
The trial of Syrian arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar, who is accused of supplying surface-to-air missiles, machine guns and millions of rounds of ammunition to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has opened in New York. Al-Kassar faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to provide aid and equipment to a terrorist organisation and to kill US citizens and officials. Al-Kassar stood trial in Spain in 1995 on charges of supplying assault rifles used by Palestinian militants in the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship, but was acquitted for lack of evidence. Read more here.

Timore-Leste: New website on armed violence
A new report on gun violence in Timore Leste has found that leakage from state stockpiles and the intentional arming of civilians by security forces have left a pool of weapons in the public domain which is unlikely to ever be recovered. The report marks the inauguration of a new website on armed violence in Timore-Leste, which is available in four languages. Read more here.

UK: Small arms on the agenda at UK African Women event
IANSA helped to put small arms on the agenda in a series of events in London called ‘Voices of African Women’. Nana Ama Amamoo delivered a speech on behalf of Pauline Dempers of Breaking the Wall of Silence to the UK House of Commons on 5 November. The speech raised the issue of gun control in post-colonial Namibia. Read more here.

Other news

• The annual vigil for the closure of the School of the Americas, a US military-run college which trains Latin American security personnel in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics will be held between November 21 – 23 outside the college in Georgia, US. Read more here.
• IANSA member Valerie Yankey has contributed an article on small arms trafficking and the ATT in the first issue of a new magazine from the Max Planck Institute and the UN Inter-regional Crime and Justice Research Institute, (UNICRI). Read more here.
• Three workshops on the protection of children during war were held in Niyala and Khartoum, Sudan, in late October and early November. The workshops were organised by IANSA member the Human Security Initiative Organisation MAMAN, as part of the Stop Children as Soldiers project funded by the EU mission in Sudan. Read more here.
• Several gender-based positions are available with international development agencies. International Alert seeks a Senior Programme Officer in its gender department, while UNDP is recruiting gender advisers in Cambodia, Albania and other Asian, African and Pacific locations. IANSA job board.

Please send your stories on developments in small arms from around the world to louise.rimmer@iansa.org

Join the IANSA Women's Network: email women@iansa.org

Join the Million Faces petition in support of a global Arms Trade Treaty