Monrovia — In an effort to help make Liberia a gun-free nation after 14 years of civil war, the Liberia Action Network on Small Arms (LANSA), is calling on Liberians to join ongoing campaign by the UNDP Small Arms Control Programme to make Liberia a gun-free society.
Speaking recently in Monrovia at a three-day capacity-building workshop held under the auspices of the UNDP, the head of the Secretariat of LANSA, Nicholas Faryombo, said the objective of the workshop is to educate participants to get involved in the campaign to halt proliferation of smalls in the country and allow development to foster.
Mr. Faryombo called on civil society organizations, national and international partners and the general population in the country to constructively engage the national authorities to ratify the convention on importation and exportation of small arms in the subregion.
He urged participants of the workshop to take the programme seriously saying: "We gathered you here as members of the civil society to understand the issues of small arms and experiences that are built on from here that will help our society to become gun-free", said Mr. Faryombo.
Meanwhile, the Programme Officer of the UNDP Small Arms Control, Mr. Robert Dorliae, has called on participants to apply the knowledge they acquired from the workshop noting, "Action speaks louder than words; this is not a political party; it is about making Liberia a gun-free society".
He said the campaign would encourage investors to come to the country and create employment opportunities. A participant of the workshop, Salie Momo, urged UNDP to go beyond holding workshops and empower local organization, saying: "Today, we want to be implementers, not workshop attendants".
