Arms Control : Africa - Volume 1, Issue 1, November 2007

It is with great pleasure that the Arms Management Programme (AMP) of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) launches the first issue of its electronic newsletter : Arms Control: Africa. This newsletter supersedes the discontinued newsletter : Focus on Small Arms in Africa which was collaborative publication of AMP and the African Union (AU).

The much awaited small arms Review Conference (RevCon), held in New York in June / July last year, ended in a shameful lack of productivity and direction, failing to agree an outcome document after two weeks of wrangling and many months of preparation and anticipation. In the ramshackle final session several States announced initiatives, including the United Kingdom plan to lead on a resolution on the Arms Trade Treaty at the First Committee; Mexico and its declaration on regulating civilian access to guns; Canada's proposal to convene an informal meeting in Geneva in May / June 2007 to discuss transfer controls and assistance and cooperation; and Switzerland's plans to implement the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development (June 2006), supported by some 42 governments.

On 6 December 2006, 153 Member States of the United Nations General Assembly reached a landmark decision, voting overwhelmingly in favour of taking first steps towards a legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), to ensure comprehensive and effective regulation of international transfers of conventional arms. States are now requested to submit their views to the UN Secretary-General by 30 April 2007 on the feasibility, scope and parameters for a legally-binding ATT.

Despite the best efforts of numerous States and organisations, the 2006 Review Conference on the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms was a missed opportunity to strengthen global efforts to prevent and reduce unregulated small arms availability. Nevertheless, the lack of an agreed conference outcome must not divert attention from the urgency of ending the suffering caused by small arms violence around the world. In the coming years, enhanced attention should be given to other normative efforts aimed at strengthening controls on arms and ammunition and to practical measures aimed at reducing armed violence.

In December 2005 the UN General Assembly established a group of governmental experts (GGE), to consider processes to enhance international cooperation in preventing, combating and eradicating illicit brokering in small arms and light weapons. The report of the brokering GGE was recently released. Below is a summary of the main findings and recommendations from this report.

Since the first resolution adopted by the General Assembly, the governments and peoples of the United Nations have been striving towards ""the elimination ... of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.""In the disarmament and arms control field, South Africa is perhaps best known for its unilateral decision to renounce its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programmes that had been developed under the apartheid regime and its co-operation agreement with Mozambique to identify and destroy arms caches (Operation Rachel) signed in 1995.

In April this year, the Arms Management Programme (AMP) embarked on a new project, Africa and the threat of weapons of mass destruction. The project aims to identify and strengthen Africa's role in international efforts to promote disarmament and nonproliferation, while not compromising African countries' ""inalienable right to use sensitive technologies for development purposes"".

This advertisement appeared on 5 November 2007 in the international press, including the International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian Weekly, Le Monde and El Mundo. The advert was part of the Cluster Munitions Coalition's global campaign for a ban on cluster munitions.

Chemical weaponsBiological weaponsNuclear weapons

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff report, the European Union has approved close to €7 Million to enhance activities on the African continent. This grant represents the single largest contribution to the IAEA's Nuclear Security Fund. The money will be available immediately for use in 27 African States to improve physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities, securing vulnerable radioactive sources, and combating illicit trafficking in nuclear and radioactive materials.