MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union

MISSING PIECES
BOX 14 MOPPING UP WEAPONS AFTER WAR:
THE SIERRA LEONE EXPERIENCE
The DDR programme carried out in 1999 to 2002 by the UN Mission in Sierra
Leone (UNAMSIL) following the civil war is widely considered one of the most
successful DDR exercises ever conducted by a UN peace operation. However,
as is the case with most DDR exercises, armed civilians were not included.
Given the scale of weapons availability amongst civilians after many years
of war, this was a serious concern for the government.
The Community Arms Collection and Destruction programme was started
in January 2001 to collect arms that were not part of the DDR process, such
as hunting rifles and pistols, and weapons in the hands of non-combatants.
It was managed by the Sierra Leone Police with the assistance of UNAMSIL.
The weapons collection programme collected some 9,660 weapons and
17,000 rounds of ammunition. In conjunction new laws were developed to
modernise the country’s outdated gun laws.
Recognising that this second disarmament campaign did not eliminate
all the illegal weapons or significantly reduce the insecurity that guns generated,
an Arms for Development (AfD) initiative was launched by the Government
of Sierra Leone and UNDP in 2003 to address not simply the collection
of guns, but also the factors motivating the demand for guns, and the establishment
of gun-free communities. The initiative aimed to:
• stem the illicit cross-border trade in guns into Sierra Leone;
• implement a community arms collection programme based on the voluntary
surrender of small arms in exchange for community development
projects and to develop alternative means of livelihood to the production
and use of firearms, and to transfer legitimate weapons back to
their owners;
• develop and implement an effective legal framework for firearms control
in Sierra Leone, including reviewing the Arms and Ammunition Act.
Relying on community ownership and active participation, the project
encouraged the voluntary surrender of weapons. The initiative targeted
communities, rather than individuals, with development projects as incentives.
Once all the weapons in a given chiefdom have been surrendered, the
police undertake a verification exercise with monitoring from UNDP and
the consent of the local community and authorities. If no weapons are found,
an arms-free certificate is awarded to the chiefdom, which will entitle it to
a grant for community development projects such as a stadium, a market
centre, schools or health posts.
New national laws for firearms control have also been prepared by a task
force comprising the staff of the Attorney-General’s Office, experts from
the Police and the UNDP. The draft legislation was completed in November
2005 and submitted to Cabinet for final approval. The next step is for the
Minister of Internal Affairs to submit the draft to Parliament for adoption.
The Government of Sierra Leone was expected to pass the new Arms and
Ammunition Act in early 2006. Under the proposed legislation, weapons
96