Concord Times (Freetown)
Abdul Karim Koroma
18 December 2008
The second regional civil society forum organized by the West African action network on small arms, WAANSA, commenced yesterday at the Bintumani hotel in Freetown.
The objective of the forum was to review civil society nature and role in combating the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in West Africa and it was funded by the ECOWAS commission's small arms control programme based in Mali.
The conference brought together representatives of civil society national networks and coalitions across West Africa, media practitioners representatives of national commissions, government officials, experts on small arms control and peace building and development partners among others.
WAANSA president Baffour Amoa said he was very happy to congratulate the ECOWAS commission for the collaborative stance its took to empower and work with civil society organizations to fight against the menace of small arms.
"Our joint missions to member states and the continuous lobbying and campaigning have almost brought the ECOWAS convention on small arms and light weapons, their ammunition and other related materials to the point which we believe will enter into force either by the end of this year or early next year," he said, adding that the confab was an annual forum for representatives from civil society organizations working against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in West Africa.
Amoa said the negative impact of small arms and light weapons was fairly known, adding that the challenge was how to combat the illicit trade and proliferation of such deadly weapons, which constitute weapons of mass destruction in our Sub region.
Director of UNREC Jacqueline Seck Diouf said her organization was the only outfit, which deals with issues of disarmament in the continent.
She said it was high time issues of small arms and light weapons are dealt with, adding that the United Nations has the mandate to work with civil society organizations.
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