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Oxfam. 2006 ‘AK-47: World's Favourite Killing Machine.’ Control Arms Briefing Note, pp. 3-4. Oxford: Oxfam International. 26 June

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The AK-47: The World's Favourite Killing Machine

The EU-led peace-keeping force (EUFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) state that more than 350,000 AK-47 rifles and derivatives were transferred out of BiH and Serbia and Montenegro by a chain of private contractors operating on behalf of the US Department of Defence between 2004 and 2005, purportedly destined for Iraq. Both the NATO force (SFOR), and subsequently EUFOR in BiH, authorised the transfer of such weapons and associated ammunition via intermediaries to Iraq.

An unknown number of such weapons and ammunition were also shipped to Afghanistan. Private contractors include a network of brokers and shipping agents operating in the USA, UK, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Moldova, and Switzerland. This list excludes shipments made from Albania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Estonia which have either sold or donated AK-47 derivatives purportedly delivered to the new Iraqi and Afghan security forces.

[Sources cited:
- EUFOR arms export authorisations for Bosnian arms transfers to Burundi, Guinea, and Uganda, unpublished, as seen by Amnesty International;
- 'Dead on Time -- arms transportation, brokering and the threat to human rights', Amnesty International report, 10 May 2006, Chapter 8]

ID: Q3914

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