Africa's Missing Billions - Oxfam International

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abuse human rights and ignore the rules of war. As well as looking at thedemand for weapons, strong initiatives must be taken to restrict supply.Many African nations, recognising the threat to their development fromirresponsible arms transfers, have already made significant efforts towardsarms control.However, many African governments feel let down by the internationalcommunity. They know that the arms trade is globalised, and that national orregional regulations, although absolutely vital, are not enough.Africa, as elsewhere, needs new international standards on arms transfers –a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Such a treaty would notprevent the responsible transfer of weapons for defence, policing,peacekeeping, and other legitimate purposes, but it must prohibit armstransfers if they are likely to be used to:• Commit serious violations of international humanitarian law;• Commit serious violations of international human rights law;• Undermine sustainable development.Although the causes of armed violence are many and highly complex, andrequire a variety of actions to be taken, we believe that an ATT based onthese principles would be one important tool in reducing armed violence inAfrica.At the moment, there are international negotiations working towards such atreaty. So far, African support for an ATT has been crucial to its success.Negotiations in the United Nations are reaching a critical stage. It is vital forgovernments, in Africa and around the world, to support these negotiationsand demand a strong result.There is an urgent need to reduce the international supply of arms andammunition to Africa. Otherwise the cost to African development –measured not just in dollars wasted but in lives shattered and opportunitiessquandered – will remain immense.4Africa’s missing billions, IANSA, Oxfam, and Saferworld, October2007
1 IntroductionThis report moves beyond what is already clear: that armed violenceis one of the greatest threats to development in Africa. It investigatesthe high costs of armed violence to Africa, looks at where theweapons come from which feed this violence, and then highlightsone important area where progress is urgently required at bothAfrican and international levels. This report will not attempt toaddress the complex causes of armed violence, but instead will focuson the arms that fuel, prolong and intensify this violence.This report will focus primarily on Africa’s armed conflicts – partlyfor methodological reasons, and partly because their impact onpeople and economies is most severe. But this should not imply thatarmed violence is caused only by armed conflicts. Africa's experienceof armed violence comes from both armed conflict and armed crime(with increasingly blurred distinctions between the two), sustainedand made more lethal by the supply of arms and ammunition.Globally, an estimated 1,000 people die every day due directly to theuse of small arms. 1 But this figure captures only a fraction of thehuman impact. For conflicts, the greater part of the human costresults not from deaths and injuries due to combat but indirectlyfrom the loss of health and livelihoods caused by the disruption ofeconomy and society. Across nine African conflicts, indirect deathswere 14 times greater than deaths occurring in combat. 2Even though the number of armed conflicts is falling, 3 there is noroom for complacency. Thirty-eight per cent of the world’s armedconflicts are being fought in Africa, 4 and in 2006, almost half of allhigh-intensity conflicts were in Africa. 5 There are still conflicts wherethe human toll is enormous and currently with little hope for a swiftsettlement (e.g. Darfur, Somalia), as well as a considerable number ofprotracted and lingering conflicts (e.g. Algeria, Democratic Republicof Congo (DRC)), and the tendency for conflicts to becomeregionalised or internationalised, involving other countries (forexample, the conflict in Darfur has drawn in neighbouring Chad andthe Central African Republic).These conflicts prevent development. Paul Collier, Professor ofEconomics at Oxford University, defines conflict as one of four ‘traps’that keep the world’s poorest countries poor and confine the world’s‘bottom billion’ people to a life of poverty in stagnant or shrinkingeconomies. 6 Africa is further from attaining the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) than any other region 7 and armed5Africa’s missing billions, IANSA, Oxfam, and Saferworld, October2007
Page 6 and 7: conflict is one important factor in
Page 8 and 9: Using the definitions from the Heid
Page 10 and 11: Table 1: Selected country results f
Page 12 and 13: Table 2: Key costs to the national
Page 14 and 15: Direct costs, with a focus on medic
Page 16 and 17: example, tend to be major losers in
Page 18 and 19: Faso increased military investments
Page 20 and 21: combatants and have brought their w
Page 22 and 23: Exactly quantifying African product
Page 24 and 25: principles of customary internation
Page 26 and 27: Diversion from stockpiles: As state
Page 28 and 29: Appendix: Methodology for cost toAf
Page 30 and 31: Notes1 International Action Network
Page 32 and 33: Education in Africa: $5bn/year, fro
Page 34 and 35: 65http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applicati
Page 36 and 37: 104 Amnesty International, IANSA, a
Page 38: © The International Action Network

Africa's Missing Billions - Oxfam International

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