ECOMOG Sold Weapons to Rebels Arnold Quainoo

Africa News Service, 20 January 1999
By Gibril Gbanabome

Accra (The Independent, January 14, 1999) - Lieutenant General Arnold Quainoo, the first commander of ECOMOG troops in Liberia, startled and shocked participants at a recent two-day consultation on micro-disarmament in West Africa when he openly admitted that ECOMOG troops in Liberia used to sell arms to Liberia's faction leaders.

He was responding to a question by a participant from Liberia who wanted to know the source of weapons of the seven factions that sprang up in the country even though ECOMOG was then controlling Liberia's land, air and sea routes.

General Quainoo said West Africa is awash with small arms that have been acquired by legal and illegal means. He noted the proliferation of such weapons which have heightened tension in the sub-region.

The General further pointed out that uncontrolled and unrestricted arms flow in the sub-region is a complicated and multi-faced problem that has become part of the turbulent post-colonial hispart of the turbulent post-colonial history of West Africa.

He said deprivation, ethnicity and bad governance in the area have forced disadvantaged people to resort to the use of arms to settle differences. He noted that Liberia still remains tense as many rebels failed to hand over their weapons despite the demobilization exercise by ECOMOG while Sierra Leone is still embroiled in bitter fighting.

He, however, pointed out that the situation is not totally hopeless as the government of Mali and the civil society managed to collect and destroy 3,000 weapons from the hands of rebels in March 1996. "The initiative in Mali signifies the importance of civil society. We need a strong and resilient civil society," he said.

The General lamented that non-government organizations are relatively weak in West Africa especially when it comes to dealing with the problem of arms and stressed the need for collaborative efforts on the part of governments and civil society to "deepen peace-building". The consultation was held at the Kingsby Hotel in Achimota in September 28-29, 1998.

In his remarks, a representative of the Fellowship of Councils and Churches in West Africa (FECCIWA), Reverend Peacock, said several conflicts had rocked West Africa in the recent past and that Liberia and Sierra Leone had witnessed an unprecedented scale of violence and destruction that had led to a situation of fear and uncertainty.

He suggested the closure of arms factories in the Western world as a possible solution to the problem of arms proliferation. He also suggested networking of pastors and teachers and the populace to resolve conflict situations and eliminate the use of violence.

Rev. Peacock said socio-economic problems and bad governance and graft are some of the factors that lead to violence in West Africa. Mr. Stein Villumstad of the Norude Initiative on Small Arms Transfers (NISAT), which is one of the conveners of the consultation, said his organization has been in the forefront of conflict resolution on the continent for quite some time now. He, however, stressed that the problem of conflicts is not only an African problem but a global one. He said weapons are only the symptoms of poverty, under-development, injustice and all the other social ills in the world. He said the availability of small arms prolongs insecurity, war and general suffering and that International Humanitarian Law is constantly breached in such situations.

The Ga Presbytery Chairman, Peter Kodjo, said senseless and bloody wars had been and are still rocking the African continent. He said this problem is now being aggravated by an emerging drug culture and intolerance of the powerful in society.

He called for a rejection of the abuses of the powerful and the persecution of the weak. The Ga Presby Chairman appealed for political change through the ballot box and an end to oppression on the continent. "Violent oppression must come to an end," he said.

The consultation drew participants from several West African countries including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Togo, Mali, Nigeria and Liberia.