Small arms foster social turmoil Illegal trafficking disrupts African communities, spreads crime

[tabatha]

A massive quantity of small arms is now circulating throughout Africa, moving unchecked across porous borders. This is one of the legacies of the continent's many conflicts. The origins of the small arms build-up lie in the Cold War competition and the struggles against colonialism and apartheid. More recently, as internal wars predominate, the influx of new weapons remains a preoccupation. But it is the illicit redistribution and flows of existing stocks from older conflicts which currently raise the greatest concern.

Without adequate disarmament, peace in Mozambique brought a massive movement of guns across borders, flowing northward to feed the conflicts in the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa, and southward to supply Southern Africa's growing black markets in arms. If at first the trade in weapons involved individuals selling one weapon for food or commodities, soon weapons smuggling became an organized business. According to an October 1997 report on weapons proliferation in South Africa, single smugglers could bring in about 30 weapons from across the Mozambican border at one time and usually undertook two trips per month.

The resulting weapons proliferation has exacerbated social conflicts in South Africa, bringing an increase in cattle rustling and the bartering of guns for cattle. The South African Police Service reported that 15,923 head of stock were stolen from rural communities between July and November 1997 alone.

South Africa is not alone. Some of the most dramatic changes are occurring in traditional pastoral communities in other countries as well. Two examples demonstrate the links between small arms and cattle rustling: in the rural areas of Swaziland along its border with Mozambique, and in pastoral communities straddling Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan.

http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol12no1/smallarm.htm

Shoot, there should not have been peace in Mozambique and South Africa.

[iverglas]

1. the massive stocks of small arms still circulating

after any civil war virtually guarantees continuing violence and instability, and undermines many efforts to establish a viable civil society.

Whether the violence is criminal or political (often associated with battles for control of resources like diamonds), it leaves civilian populations at risk.

[tabatha]

2. There should never have been any colonialism.