Pézard, Stéphanie and Nicolas Florquin. 2007 ‘Distribution of Arms - Distribution among Civilians by Province.’ Small Arms in Burundi: Disarming the Civilian Population in Peacetime, p. 14. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva / Ligue Iteka. 1 August

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The Distribution of Arms - Distribution among Civilians by Province

There is currently no reliable estimate of the number of arms in the hands of civilians in Burundi, nor of their types, their origin, or the uses to which they are put. Various figures have been suggested: a figure of 100,000 illegal arms (assault rifles, grenades, and RPGs) in the hands of Burundian civilians was advanced by the transitional government in May 2005, at the time of the adoption of the decree on the disarmament of civilians.

The higher figure of 300,000 arms was put forward by the UN panel of experts on the DRC in its report of 25 January 2005 which notes that in Burundi 'insecurity is aggravated by the fact that approximately 300,000 arms are currently in the hands of various military groups taking part in the peace process, not to mention the militias, the local defence forces, and the insurgents' (UN Security Council, 2005, para. 171).

This information has been repeated in the reports of the UN Secretary General on the United Nations Operation in Burundi (UN Security Council, 2005b, para. 30), and by the UN Economic and Social Council's Special Advisory Group on Burundi (UN Economic and Social Council, 2005, para. 5). It is nevertheless impossible to know from which sources this estimate is derived.

[Sources: UN Security Council, 2005; Niyoyita, Aloys. 'Burundi Attempts Disarmament Drive', 2005]

[DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo; RPG = rocket-propelled grenade launcher]

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