Controlling circulation of small arms:

CAMYOSFOP advocates more gov’t implication

By Rachel NtubeNgwese in Yaounde

CEO of CAMYOSFOP, Ngalim Eugene

Senior government officials including Parliamentarians, representatives from government institutions, partner NGOs and the military have been called upon to hasten procedures aimed at halting the illicit circulation of arms within Cameroon and across the borders of countries of the Cemac sub-region. This was within the framework of a sensitization workshop organized by the Cameroon Youths Forum for Peace, CAMYOSFOP and other partners NGOs in Yaoundé.

                The workshop had as objective to school senior government officials on the necessity of creating a national commission for the control and management of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in Cameroon.

                According to the organizers, the illicit proliferation of small arms in the sub region a major cause for the constant instability and civil wars that have plagued some Cemac states in recent years including notably the conflicts in the Central African Republic, the terrorist incursions in East Cameroon and the Boko Haram insurgency in North Cameroon.

                To contain this prevailing danger, the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA) has formulated guidelines for the establishment of national commissions to manage and control the circulation of small arms and also ensure the implementation of ratified treaties on small arms in Cemac countries.

                The RECSA-prepared document was presented to participants at the workshop. For their part, members of the parliamentary forum on small arms were urged to table the issue before the national assembly and press for its ratification in order to facilitate its materialization.

                According to the parliamentarians, the proposal needs first to be studied by the defense and security commission before its presentation to the full house of parliament.

                Meanwhile it emerged that the president of the republic had instructed the ministry of external relations since 2012 to start procedures for the putting in place of the national commission. Though it is not immediately known under which government department the commission will be lodged, the defense experts present at the workshop suggested that the structure should be placed under the services of the presidency of the republic.

                 Another issue debated was the effective implication of states in fostering disarmament in the sub region through the ratification and the efficient application of the 2012 Kinshasa convention and the 2013 arms trade treaty which Cameroon has not yet ratified.

                Worthy to mention that both the Kinshasa convention and the arms trade treaty give guidelines for regulating the flow of arms, apart from defining and specifying traditional, civilian and war weapons.