Chapter 1The Flame of Hope In August 1999 thousands of deadly arms and two million rounds of ammunition were burnt in a symbolic "Flame of hope" in war-torn Liberia. The Liberian government, the former parties to the civil war and the United Nations jointly organised this very concrete measure to help realise the West African Moratorium on Small Arms. The uncontrolled proliferation of small arms and light weapons is one of the greatest humanitarian challenges of our time. Automatic rifles in the hands of irresponsible war-makers and human rights abusers cause the majority of civilian casualties in contemporary conflicts. Together with the United Nations, the Henry Dunant Center and the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers, organised an international seminar in Geneva on May 5th 1999 to focus on the implementation of this first inter-governmental agreement to freeze importation, exportation and manufacture of small arms and light weapons. In this report we publish the proceedings of this unique seminar in which some 80 representatives of governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations participated. Of particular value was the dialogue between the African parties to the Moratorium and the representatives of countries that are members of the Wassenaar Arrangement for arms exporters. It is our hope that the substantive addresses by HE President Alpha Oumar Konaré of Mali, ECOWAS Executive Secretary Lansana Kouyate and our other keynote speakers will not only present West Africa’s visionary agreement, but also encourage the necessary support and respect to secure its implementation. Special thanks to Margaret Shilliday, Johanna Grombach Wagner, Ole-Petter Sunde and Preben Marcussen for their efforts in preparing this report.
Martin Griffiths Jan Egeland
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Contents / Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Annexes |