Title: Burkina Faso: Colonel appointed to head arms control unit
05 Jun 2001 [Translated Text] Ouagadougou, 5 June (AFP) -- Col Bernard Sanou, 51, came into office as the permanent secretary of the higher authority in charge of controlling the imports and utilization of arms in Burkina Faso, an official source announced in Ouagadougou today. This body, created in January 2001, is in charge of "controlling all the arms imported" by the Burkina Faso government and of "preventing any illicit arm trafficking on the national territory." It is headed by the prime minister and its members include ministers and MP's. Col Sanou has promised to "reinforce the international community's trust, so as to definitively appease our partners' worries." Burkina Faso, which had been accused in a UN report of trafficking arms with both the Angola and Sierra-Leone rebel movements, had announced in December 2000 the setting up of a mechanism aimed at controlling the imports and utilization of arms. Burkina Faso had also proposed that this mechanism be overseen by the Security Council competent structures for three years. Several missions, sent by the Security Council body in charge of monitoring the sanctions imposed on the Angola and Sierra-Leone rebel movements, had sojourned in Ouagadougou during the last five months of year 2000. Ouagadougou has always denied being involved in arms and diamond trafficking with rebel movements from Angola and Sierra-Leone. Doum240004 [Description of Source: Paris AFP (Domestic Service) in French -- domestic service of independent French press agency Agence France-Presse]