Foreword

The need has been identified by SaferAfrica to produce an updated publication on the destruction process of small arms and light weapons in Mozambique, called Operation Rachel. These operations have been ongoing for nearly eight years now and will continue for some time still to come.

Much has been written in the past on these destruction operations and in the process a lot of research and analysing of these operations and its concept were done. This publication steers away from the conventional research and analysis process and will produce the facts and figures of budgets, personnel involved and the actual breakdown of destructions per operation.

Other conflict areas (eg Angola) that are now experiencing relative peace are looking at the Rachel model to see if it can be adopted and implemented to destroy arms caches left behind after the end of conflicts there.

Through the work undertaken in Mozambique by SaferAfrica and Saferworld in the developing of a National Action Plan for Mozambique, in partnership with the National Government and civil society organisations like the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM), the author was provided with statistic on destructions by the CCM. The CCM through its 'Transforming Arms Into Ploughshares' (TAE) project, which was launched in 1995, destroyed huge numbers of war-related material including firearms and ammunition. It is thus important to show parallel destruction statistics together; a section giving more information and statistics on the TAE project is also provided in this publication.

The use of visual aids such as photos will also give a realistic picture of the type, amount and condition of the war-related material destroyed. This is also one of the manners in which record is kept by the destruction teams. I also believe this will pay tribute to the unsung heroes of the operations: the police officers themselves. A special thanks to the South African Police Service, in particular Dir Martin Naude, Supt R Roeland and AC II Liezel Coetzee for their time, effort and for providing the needed information for the publication. Also a special mention of thanks to Mr A Forquilha from the Christian Council of Mozambique in allowing me to use the statistics from its 'Transforming Arms Into Ploughshares' project.

Ettienne Hennop
Programme Officer
SaferAfrica
Pretoria, South Africa