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Uganda Destruction Report

Firearms and Ammunition Destruction in Uganda

  1. On the 26th of September 2005 the Uganda National Focal Point (NFP) launched its National Action Plan on Small Arms and Light Weapons (NAP) with a public destruction ceremony of 3000 illicit firearms by means of burning. SaferAfrica assisted the NFP in executing this public demonstration. The firearms used in this ceremony were from both UPDF and Uganda Police stocks.



  2. Uganda is a signatory to a number of international and subregional instruments on the control of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and is thus fulfilling their obligations under these instruments. They include the following:

    • The United Nations Programme of Action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (Articles 11.6 and 11.9).
    • The Bamako Declaration on an African Common Position on the illicit proliferation, circulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons (Article 3.A.i~).
    • The Nairobi Protocol for the prevention, control and reduction of small arms and light weapons in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa (Articles 8, 9 and 12).
    • The UN Firearms Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Article 6.2).

  3. The Government of Uganda further demonstrated its commitment to eradicate the illicit trade and use of SALW in Uganda by making available all seized, captured and obsolete SALW and ammunition for destruction. This action is also in accordance with serial no 3.3 objective 9 of the Uganda National Action Plan. This objective states, 'to identify, collect, pool, administer and destroy all surplus, seized, captured and voluntary surrendered stock’.



  4. On the request of the Uganda National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons, SaferAfrica sent Mr. Sarel Buijs to Uganda to plan and execute a physical reconnaissance and count of all the obsolete, surplus unserviceable and captured firearms and ammunition in Uganda.



  5. The reconnaissance was carried out from 30 January 2006 to 16 February 2006. A team from SaferAfrica, the UPDF and Uganda Police visited the following locations:
      a. Mbuya Military Stores Kampala
      b. Nakasero Police Quartermaster Kampala
      c. Magamaga Military Stores
      d. Mbale Military Barracks
      e. Entebbe Air Force Base
      f. Luwero Industries
      g. Masindi Military Barracks
      h. Mbarara Military Barracks.



  6. At each of the above locations all the firearms were removed from the stores, identified by type and counted before being returned to the stores. A total of approximately 57,000 firearms were recorded and approximately 400 tons of ammunition.



  7. The results of this reconnaissance were reported to the Chief of Defence Forces of Uganda and were followed by a technical verification of these firearms.



  8. Permission to go ahead with the destruction was obtained on 04 May 2006. As all the planning was already completed, the team could go ahead with the destruction immediately.



  9. During an earlier meeting between the NFP, SaferAfrica and UNDP, it was decided that SaferAfrica and UNDP would partner on this project, with SaferAfrica executing the task and UNDP funding this operation.



  10. Although there is a wide range of destruction methods available, it was decided to smelt the firearms and a suitable smelter was found at Steel Rolling Mills at Jinja.



  11. Final authorization, including fuel and vehicles were obtained on 18 May 2006 and the first firearms were loaded at Mbuya Stores. The team moved to Jinja to prepare for the smelting. The process began on 19 May 2006 with a briefing on the procedure at the plant as well as the proposed sequence of events. This briefing was done by Sarel Buijs of SaferAfrica and was translated by Col Mukasa. The personnel attached to the operation also received a briefing on the safe handling on firearms.



  12. The process used at Steel Rolling Mills (SRM) was as follows:
      a. Firearms would be offloaded in a designated area at SRM.
      b. The firearms were then checked individually for any rounds of ammunition.
      c. Firearms were then sorted by type and then recorded by a team of recorders. This information recorded included the firearm type, serial number and manufacturer.
      d. The firearms were then removed from the recording area to the plastic and wood removal areas.
      e. These firearms were loaded on a truck and moved to the weighbridge under the escort of the Military Police.
      f. After obtaining a weighbridge certificate, the firearms were moved to the furnace where they were melted under the supervision of the Military Police.



  13. The process began very slowly and the biggest delay was the removal of the wood and plastic from the firearms. It was decided that from the second day onwards, open burning would be used to remove plastic and wood. As the safety checkers found a large number of rounds stuck in the firearms, it was decided to place these firearms in an inverted position in the centre of the fire so that these firearms could be discharged with safety.



  14. As everyone involved in this process became more experienced in their specific tasks, the process began to run smoothly and peaked at 8500 firearms recorded in one day.



  15. The total weight of the firearms destroyed was 202,06 tons. The total number of firearms destroyed was approximately 57,000 and included the following types:
      a. Pistols and revolvers
      b. Rifles - some dating as far back as 1861 including a large amount of homemade rifles
      c. Assault rifles
      d. Sub-machine guns
      e. Rocket launchers
      f. Light machine guns
      g. Heavy machine guns
      h. Anti aircraft guns up to 37mm
      i. Anti tank guns 57mm to 106mm
      j. Mortars, mainly 60/81/82 mm and a number of 120mm.



  16. It was decided that examples of all the types of firearms destroyed should be kept for the purposes of a museum. These firearms were recorded but not destroyed and are currently kept at Mbuya Stores.



  17. The exercise was executed over the period 18 May to 5 June 2006. The exercise ended on 1 June 2006 and a small skeleton staff remained until 5 June 2006 to clean up the area.



  18. 18. During 2007, a team from SaferAfrica, the UPDF and Uganda Police will destroy the 400 tons of ammunition at Nakasongola. SaferAfrica will also partially finance with UNDP with operation.



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