Preface

 

The Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers (NISAT) was launched in December 1997, with financial support by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Representing two of the world’s largest non-governmental movements, the Norwegian Red Cross and the Norwegian Church Aid joined with the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs to initiate a joint international effort to study, control and limit the proliferation of small arms. The Initiative decided to conduct its activities along two main tracks: (1) regional arrangements to curb the flow of small arms, and (2) application of international humanitarian law on small arms transfers.

The first, specific activity of NISAT was organized in support of an initiative taken by the Government of Mali. At a UN conference in Bamako in November 1996, the President of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konaré, proposed a moratorium on import, export and manufacture of light weapons in West Africa. Within the political framework established by the moratorium, measures would be taken to mop up illicit arms and create a secure environment for development. The arms-producing states of the newly established Wassenaar Arrangement were invited to a dialogue with the West Africans on the matter, and asked to assist in the implementation of the moratorium.

During 1997, the moratorium was discussed among West African states as well as within the Wassenaar Arrangement. Facilitated by the UN, the first contacts were established between African representatives and representatives of Wassenaar. In its public statement of 10 December 1997, the Wassenaar Arrangement ‘encouraged the initiative of the West African countries in establishing a moratorium on import, export and manufacture of light weapons’. On 12 March 1998, the ministerial meeting of ECOWAS asked the ECOWAS secretariat to undertake the necessary preparations for the moratorium to be declared later this year.

On 1–2 April 1998, NISAT, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), convened the first multilateral consultation of West African governments and Wassenaar member states. The UNDP perceives the small arms phenomenon as an integral part of the challenges to peace-building in the context of providing a more secure environment for sustainable development. Together with other UN departments, the UNDP has been facilitating the moratorium process through the programme for coordination and assistance for security and development.

13 West African governments and 23 Wassenaar states were represented at the Oslo conference, along with NGOs and scholars from a variety of countries. The opening speech was made by President Konaré of Mali. The conference was also addressed by Prime Minister Bondevik of Norway, who promised financial and political support for the implementation of the moratorium. The attitudes, clarifications, views and arguments that were put forward were constructive and encouraging for the further pursuit and implementation of the moratorium. The conference ended on a comparative note, discussing similar arrangements also for other regions, in casu Central Africa and Central America. The present publication contains the speeches and papers that were delivered, and the sense of the conference was summarized by the Chairman at the end of the meeting (re the ‘Oslo Platform’, as printed in Section I).

In some parts of the world, governments tend to consider international efforts to curb the flow of small arms as possible sources of interference into their domestic affairs. In other regions, governments rather see such endeavours as welcome assistance in the establishment of real state sovereignty – monopoly on the physical means of control being at the core of what states are about. Where conditions are ripe, NISAT will continue to support regional arrangements and NGOs, cooperating with the United Nations, regional organizations and likeminded governments to give the fullest possible effect to the initiatives.

When approaching a difficult problem, single measures seldom do. Combinations of approaches usually have to be pursued. In this regard, the West African initiative is novel as well as constructive. For it has the virtue of locking suppliers and recipients into a joint effort to alleviate the problems associated with the flow of light weapons.

Together with the United Nations and others, NISAT stands ready to assist in forging broad coalitions to come to grips with the excessive accumulation and unlawful use of small arms.

 

Ivor Richard Fung

 Regional Programme
Manager for
Peace-Building,

United Nations
DevelopmentProgramme

 Sverre Lodgaard

 Norwegian Institute
of International Affairs

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