Time to mop up illegal Small Arms and Lights Weapons in region - EALA now demands
East African Legislative Assembly, Arusha, October 1st 2019: In a bid to mop out illegal Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the EAC region, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is emphatic that Partner States should as a matter of necessity, ratify, domesticate and operationalize the Nairobi Protocol and the Arms Trade Treaty. Failure to do so, creates a lacuna and opens up avenues for the weapons to get in to the wrong hands including that of terrorist networks. The Assembly is further calling for a regional legislative framework to address the problem of proliferation of small arms. Today, the Assembly adopted the report of the Committee on Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolutions on the Oversight Activity on the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the EAC region. The oversight activity was carried out in the region on August 25-28th, 2019, in collaboration with the International Committee on the Red Cross (ICRC).
The report presented to the House yesterday by the Chair of the RACR, Hon Victor Burikukiye, further urges the Assembly to recommend to the EAC Council of Ministers as a matter of priority, to ensure the process of marking and registering the firearms and light weapons is prioritized to enhance the fight against transboundary crime.
