1.3m illicit arms circulating in Ghana

Πηγή: GhanaWeb
18 Nov 2015

Over 1.3 million weapons believed to have been smuggled into Ghana are not registered, according to preliminary investigations conducted by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center.

Chairman of the commission on small arms and light weapons, Brigadier General Francis Agyemfra is concerned about the security of the state and wants measures in place to retrieve the weapons.

“We are very much concerned about the spread of illicit arms and their possible impact on our democracy especially those that could be triggered by violence," Brigadier Gen Francis Agyemfra (RTD) said.

Executive Secretary of the Small Arms Commission, Jones Aplerh, says the finding by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre is worrying.

“As at 2004 the number of illicit weapons was around 240,000”, said Mr Aplerh, stressing the recent figures is cause for concern.

He however, explained that the methodology used by the Kofi Annan centre could have well overblown the current situation.

He said the Kofi Annan centre made its assessment of the number of small arms weapons based on civilian weapons that we have licensed on the database of the Small Arms Commission.

He said current number of registered civilian arms stood at 1.2 million.

“It may give a clear picture, or it may even more than [the 1.3 million figure] or less than that,” he said about the figure quoted by the report.

According to Mr Aplerh, the number of weapons in the country should not be the source of concern.

"What we need to worry about is the demand-driven factors; the long-standing land and cheiftaincy issues", he pointed out.

He said government agencies and other stakeholders must work together to settle desputes in violence hotspots.

Exclusive: Algeria seizes missiles smuggled from Libya: source

Πηγή: Reuters
By Lamine Chikhi

Feb 18 2012

Algerian security forces have found a large cache of weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, which they believe were smuggled in from neighboring Libya, a security source briefed on the discovery told Reuters on Saturday.

The find follows warnings from governments in the region that instability in Libya after the end of Muammar Gaddafi's rule is allowing weapons taken from Gaddafi's arsenal to fall into the hands of al Qaeda's north African branch and other insurgent groups across the Sahara desert.

The weapons cache was discovered in the desert about 60 km (40 miles) south of In Amenas, an energy-producing Algerian region near the border with Libya, said the source, who spoke to Reuters on condition on anonymity.

The source said the cache was located following a tip-off from a smuggler who had been arrested. He said it contained a "large quantity" of arms including the shoulder-launched missiles - a weapon which, in some variations, could be used to bring down an aircraft.

"This weapons seizure shows that the chaos in Libya is dangerous for the whole region," the source said.

There was no official confirmation of the discovery from the Algerian government and there was no way of independently verifying the source's account.

Western security experts tracking arms which have disappeared from Gaddafi's looted arms depots say the shoulder-fired missiles - also known as man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS - are one of their biggest concerns because they could be used with relative ease by insurgent groups.

INSURGENCY

Gaddafi's forces had about 20,000 of the missiles, according to a U.S. government task force which is trying to locate the missiles. The task force says most of the missiles are still inside Libya, in the hands of militias loosely allied to the interim leadership that took over after Gaddafi's rule was overthrown last year.

Security officials in North Africa say the worst-case scenario is that al Qaeda's north African wing, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), could use one of the missiles to bring down a commercial airliner coming in to land or taking off at an airport somewhere in North Africa.

The group is waging a long-running insurgency against Algeria's government. It also carries out kidnappings, ambushes and bomb attacks on Western targets in the Sahel, a huge volatile band that straddles the borders of Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Speaking in Geneva last week, a U.N. panel of experts on Libya said the lack of strong central government control in Libya was making it difficult to track down the missing MANPADS.

"People are concerned and they are right," said one panel member, on condition of anonymity. "There is certainly weapons traffic into the Sahel. It is a large desert area with limited (border) controls."

Algeria has been one of the region's most vocal states in warning of the security impact of Gaddafi's fall. The revolt has left huge quantities of weapons unsecured and a fragile interim government that is struggling to impose its authority and control the country's borders.

However, Libyan officials say they are working to secure the missing weapons and have accused Algeria of exaggerating the threat.

They say its neighbor was against the revolt in Libya and is now using the security issue to undermine the new leadership in Tripoli, allegations that Algerian officials deny.

Report: Algeria stops Libyan weapons smugglers

Πηγή: taiwannews
By AOMAR OUALI (AP)
Dec 14 2011

An Algerian daily reports that the army has arrested seven Libyans in two four-wheel drive vehicles packed with weapons near the desert border.

Al-Khabar on Tuesday quoted unidentified local security officials as saying they believe the arms were intended for al-Qaida militants who roam the deserts.

Algeria has repeatedly sounded the alarm over the danger of weapons from Libya where a civil war raged for much of the year _ falling into the hands of militants.

The trucks contained assault rifles, Katyusha rockets and ammunition of various calibers, the paper reported.

The seven men arrested tried to pass themselves off as former Libyan rebels on patrol, but the officials said there were too many weapons in the trucks.

The paper added that the army has mounted a major operation to crack down on desert smuggling networks.