Burkina Faso Gets Body to Control Spread of Light Weapons

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
5 April 2001
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso has decided to create a national commission to control the proliferation of light weapons and oversee the banning of anti-personnel land mines in the country.

According to a statement from the foreign ministry issued Thursday in Ouagadougou, the decision to set up the commission was in keeping with the Bamako Declaration on the African position on light and small calibre weapons.

Placed under the authority of the Prime Minister, the new body is charged with submitting a national policy for the control of the spread of light weapons.

The commission will also propose ways and means to implement the policy, in collaboration with national and international partners involved in this field.

The initiative was prompted by the adoption of a declaration of a  moratorium on the import, export and manufacturing of light weapons in  West Africa.

The commission should also reinforce measures taken as part of the  implementation of the resolutions of the UN Security Council imposing  sanctions against rebels in Angola and in Sierra Leone.

Burkina Faso has been accused by the UN of violating the embargo on the  trafficking of arms and diamonds in Sierra Leone and Angola.

Copyright © 2001 Panafrican News Agency.
Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).