Kigali — The National Police will this week sensitise the public to voluntarily surrender small arms in their possession.

This was revealed yesterday by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Butera, in a telephone interview with The New Times.

"This is one of the serious programmes to ensure a peaceful, secure and stable country," Butera who is also in charge of community policing in the national police said.

"All things that distablise Rwanda should be done away with, and small arms are part of them," he said

The removal of excess and illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) from our midst is an exercise East African Community (EAC) Partner States have also been involved with.

Early this month, Security Ministers from the five EAC Member States signed recommendations that would ensure a peaceful bloc, among which was update on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW).

Currently, over 120,000 assorted fire arms and ammunition have been destroyed in the EAC States.