Preface - First National Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Support of the Implementation of the SADC Protocol on Firearms and Ammunition, Windhoek, Namibia
Continental Conferences facilitated by SaferAfrica
The proliferation and illicit trade in small arms and light weapons pose many and serious challenges to our government and people in new and daunting ways. Small arms are involved in well over a thousand deaths every single day across the world. It is a multifaceted scourge that negatively affects all aspects of human society, security and civilization. It also presents a grave threat to international peace and security and sustainable development. Africa is a region most afflicted by the problems associated with this illicit trade that threatens social progress.No Government alone can, however, fight this global scourge. It requires a concerted effort from all segments of the society to ensure success and root out this threat and menace to the society. We all in the region and worldwide share a common goal to save lives; protect human and natural resources from armed gangsters; promote cross-border cooperation; increase information sharing and train law enforcement operators.
We are dealing here with a sad irony. While Africa is not really the primary source of manufacturing small arms and light weapons, our people are today the greatest victims. This heavy burden is further being added to the costly demands of the horrific war that we have to wage in Africa against poverty, HIV/AIDS pandemic and underdevelopment. That’s why we must, all of us as Africans, not hesitate to speak up, shame and blame those nations and their companies that produce, sell and benefit from this ongoing dreaded trade.
Before international action and other initiatives at the international and continental level –such as the OAU Bamako Declaration and the United Nations Plan of Action on the Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects (UNPOA)-were taken, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for its part carried out pioneering work in the field. Here, the Southern Africa Regional Police Chiefs Coordinating Organization (SARPCCO) issued a historic declaration during its Annual General Meeting held in 1998. It called on SADC member states to institute a mechanism for regional control of firearms and ammunition. The decision to proceed in this direction was subsequently taken at the SADC Summit in Windhoek in March 2001. The SADC Protocol of which SARPCCO is the Implementing Agency was signed in August 2001 in Blantyre and is in the process of being ratified. The regional leaders also created the SADC Experts Group on Small Arms and Light Weapons. Namibia has been active participant to all of these initiatives.
These initiatives and legal instruments, particularly the SADC Protocol, the OAU Bamako Declaration and United Nations Programme of Action, impose specific obligations on States at national and regional levels, and particularly in the case of the United Nations Programme also at the global level. By hosting this important and timely Conference today, the Namibian Government is demonstrating its unswerving commitment to honouring its obligation in combating the trade and the use of firearms and light weapons in the society towards destructive ends. Namibia already ratified the SADC Protocol on the Control of Firearms, Ammunition and Other Related Materials and is a party to the UNPOA. Implementation of these instruments will further strengthen our country’s law enforcement capacity. This will in turn improve our ongoing efforts to better control the movement, seizure and destruction of illicit small arms and light weapons.
[Excerpts of the Opening Speech by the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia, Theo-Ben Gurirab MP, Windhoek, 7 October 2002]
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