ECOWAS Goes Tough on Small Arms

Africa News Service, 2 November 1998

ABUJA, Nigeria (PANA, 11/01/98) - Concerned about illegal proliferation of small arms, west African leaders at their just-ended 21st ECOWAS summit have adopted a three-year moratorium on the importation, exportation and manufacture of such weapons in the sub-region.

In a communique, the leaders said this was part of efforts to promote peace and stability in the sub-region.

They also called on the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations to ensure the adoption of similar steps in other regions of Africa.

In reaching this decision, the leaders appear to be working on the theory that the indiscriminate circulation of these and similar weapons of mass destruction helped to fuel armed conflicts in the sub-region.

Recent examples include the seven-year Liberian civil war, which ECOWAS

managed to end through its peace monitoring group, ECOMOG.

Sierra Leone has also been embroiled in similar crisis, with remnants of the junta forces and their Revoluationary United Front allies still causing trouble for the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

ECOMOG has been involved in the prolonged campaign to flush out the rebels and restore peace to Sierra Leone.

The latest trouble spot in the sub-region is guinea bissau, where President Joao Bernardo Vieira is facing rebellion from his sacked army chief of staff, Gen. Ansumane Mane.

Meanwhile, ECOWAS leaders have adopted a regional mechanism for conflict prevention, management and resolution, peace-keeping and security.

Apart from spelling out modalities on the command and control structure of a sub-regional intervention force, the mechanism also seeks to put in place a framework for pro-active and preventive measures, including an early-warning system and effective mediation.

The leaders also for consolidation of peace in Sierra Leone and appealed to the international community to support Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Mali and Niger in their efforts to provide the additional troops they had promised to beef up ECOMOG operations in the country.

On Liberia, they advocated "peace building," and urged Liberians to "continue to nurture the spirit of reconciliation."

The relation between ECOMOG and the government of President Charles Taylor has been uneasy over the mandate of the force, which ought to have ended in February, 1997.

The leaders noted the request by the Taylor government for the continued stay of the force and therefore "requested the government of Liberia and the ECOWAS executive secretary to draft a protocol on the mandate of ECOMOG in Liberia."

In June, ECOMOG and the Liberian government signed the forces status agreement, but this has not stopped occasional tension between them.