ECOWAS Press Release No. 62/2000 ECOWAS Workshop on Small Arms Opens in Abuja 29 August 2000 A four-day sub-regional workshop on the development of a curriculum for the training of ECOWAS Military, Security and Police forces opened at the ECOWAS Secretarait in Abuja today. The workshop would develop a curriculum for the training of these forces on the control of small arms in line with the plan of action of the moratorium adopted in March 1999 by ECOWAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs. In a speech to the opening, the Exeuctive Secretary of ECOWAS, Mr. Lansana Kouyaté described the workshop as "historic" in the effort to promote regional peace and stability. "It is common knowledge that the West African sub-region has experienced sporadic and often times prolonged outbreak of armed conflicts that have resulted in great loss of human lives, displacement of persons and destruction of infrastructure" he said. He told the participants, drawn mostly from the Police, Customs and Gendamerie of Member States that such armed conflictst have also undermined the development efforts of the Community. Mr. Kouyaté, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary for Economic Affairs and Research , Mr. Frank Ofei, said that four Member States - The Gambia, Liberia, Mali and Niger have set up National Commissions for the implementation of the sub-regional moratorium on the importation, exportation and manufacture of light weapons. The moratorium was declared by ECOWAS leaders for an initial period of three years in October, 1998 as one of the practial measures to check the proliferation of light weapons, which has been blamed for the recurrence of violence in the sub-region. - 2 - A recent report concluded that there were 500 million such weapons circulating in the world with 8 million of this in the sub-region. The Executive Secretary praised Member States for demonstrating a commitment to the successful implementation of the moratorium. He also called for an "aggressive" enlightenment campaign to further sensitize and encourage Member States on its implementation. In his address, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Sule Lamido said the workshop would help address a critical element in the promotion of sub-regional peace and stability. He said that some 2 million people have died since 1990 in the sub-region from conflicts fueled by these illegal arms. As its contribution to curbing the scourge, the Minister said that Nigeria last year banned the circulation of such weapons but said that to be effective, the ECOWAS initiative must be complemented by the manufacturers of such weapons. The workshop is jointly organised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Programme for Co-ordination and Assistance for Security and Development (PCASED). It would offer participants an opportunity to initiate a process of establishing an information exchange network and strategy for controlling the scourge. The curriculum to be developed would include general information on the diffusion of arms, modern methods techniques of maintenance of law and order, methods of collecting small arms and dealing with drug trafficking. It would also deal wth cross border crime and effective ways of maintaining national weapons arsenals.