Disarmament to start in East Africa

Nairobi. African security bloc, Regional Center on Small Arms (RECSA) on Thursday said it will begin a disarmament exercise in the eastern African region in 2016.

RECSA Executive Director Theoneste Mutsindashyaka told Xinhua in Nairobi that the exercise will target the cattle rustling areas in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. “We are currently looking for donors to fund the 3-million-U.S.- dollar three-year project,” Mutsindashyaka said on the sidelines of the launch of the RECSA project to enhance regional and states stability through the reduction of proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

Mutsindashyaka said some of the communities in the areas targeted have retrogressive cultures that encourage young men to possess illicit arms. “We are going to develop and implement behavior change programs to help overcome this negative culture,” the executive secretary said, adding that there are approximately 100 million arms in circulation, most of them in the hands of civilians. Mutsindashyaka said the disarmament exercise will be modeled after the Ugandan government’s program that pacified the Karamojang region.

He noted that Uganda restored peace and stability in Karamojang region by providing basic services such as education, health and security in the area. The African Development Bank Regional Director Gabriel Negatu said there is a strong relationship between security and economic development. Negatu said his bank will provide an additional 1.5 million dollar grant to RECSA to reduce the proliferation of light arms in the RECSA member states.

The funds will be used for technical assistance and capacity building of RECSA.(NMG)