UN: Arms traffickers defeat peace efforts in Central Africa

Mar 20, 2010, 15:04 GMT

New York - Diplomatic efforts to end deadly conflicts in Central African nations have been thwarted by weapons trafficking, UN officials said Friday.

'Central Africa is awash with illicit weapons - exacerbating inter-communal violence, increasing cross-border crime and threatening ongoing peace and national reconciliation processes,' UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro told the Security Council.

Migiro, a former Tanzanian foreign minister, urged governments in the region to work with weapons-supplier states to try to end the arms trafficking that has had a tremendous negative impact on peace efforts.

The global illicit arms trafficking is estimated at up to 300 billion dollars a year.

The council's debate on Central Africa focused on the constant flow of arms into the region, which has frustrated efforts to restore peace and development in the impoverished countries there.

Migiro cited programmes that target illegal trafficking like the UN programme of action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons; the UN firearms protocol; and the international tracing instrument.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna, said conflicts now are mostly within a country with combatants using light rather than heavy weapons.

Africa has become the most profitable market for arms smugglers and also has suffered the world's highest casualties a result of conflicts.

'Even small amounts of arms can undermine the socio-economic progress of a nation, break the State's monopoly on the use of force, or create a tipping point in political in political (or military) stalemates,' Costa said in the council meeting.