Nigeria: West African leaders said extend moratorium on light weapons Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1801 GMT 09 Jul 01 AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE Monday, July 9, 2001 Journal Code: 2131 Language: ENGLISH Record Type: FULLTEXT Document Type: Daily Report; News Word Count: 268 July 9 (AFP) - West African heads of state have extended by three years a moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of light weapons, an official statement said Monday. The extension took effect last Thursday (5 July), said the statement by the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). No reason was given for the extension. The moratorium, first declared on October 31 during an ECOWAS summit here, seeks to eliminate or curtail the proliferation and circulation of light weapons in the region, the statement said. Under the moratorium, 1,500 arms recovered from Liberian ex-combatants were publicly destroyed in Monrovia in July 1999 in the presence of four heads of state, including Liberian President Charles Taylor. ECOWAS officials estimated then that 15 million arms were circulating in the region. "These arms fuel conflicts in the sub-region and encourage the use of child soldiers," the ECOWAS statement said. In March 1999, ECOWAS foreign ministers met in Bamako, the Malian capital, with UN Development Programme officials and adopted a plan of action and a code of conduct. The plan aims primarily to establish a culture of peace, train security agents, destroy surplus weapons in member states, establish dialogue with arms manufacturers and set up a small arms register in west Africa, the ECOWAS statement added.