OSLO — Mali's President Alpha Oumar Konare on Wednesday urged an international drive to curb trade in small arms, saying they were a bigger threat to many nations than nuclear weapons. "I'd like to make an appeal to the international community to wage an unrelenting battle against this type of arms," he said at the start of a two-day conference of about 15 West African nations and 20 arms producing countries. He said West African heads of state would meet later this... (GunPolicy.org)

ACCRA, Ghana — The executive director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution, Lt. Gen. Arnold Quainoo, has stressed the need to stimulate debate and public consciousness to help address the problem of weapons proliferation in the West African sub-region. Civil society should support government initiatives to rid the sub-region of weapons, he told a Consultation on Micro Disarmament in West Africa Monday. The three-day meeting is being organised by the World Council... (GunPolicy.org)

MAPUTO — A Mozambican bishops' project to exchange guns, mines and other weapons with tools useable by artisans is still going strong nearly seven years after it was started. Although endowed with immense natural resources, Mozambique, on the eastern African seaboard south of Tanzania, is one of the world's poorest nations. Several million guns poured into the country during the sixties war of liberation against the colonial ruler, Portugal, and later after... (GunPolicy.org)

NAIROBI — Parliament erupted in fury as MPs held a 10-minute fist- fight in the debating Chamber yesterday — just moments after they voted by a whisker not to give themselves guns. People watched in dismay from the public gallery as the House de generated into a free-for-all brawl between Kanu and Opposition MPs. Parliamentary orderlies, and the Serjeant-at-Arms and his team struggled to separate the fighting MPs as the Deputy Speaker, Mr Joab Omino, tried in vain... (GunPolicy.org)

Between three and four million illegal weapons are circulating in South Africa, sourced from Mozambique and Angola, but also from China, Singapore and the United States, according to a report released Wednesday. South African police say that 90 percent of all hijackings are committed using illegal handguns, and in 1995, 75 percent of murders were carried out with these weapons, according to the Star newspaper. Heavy arms are also feeding ongoing taxi wars in South... (GunPolicy.org)

JOHANNESBURG — Thieves broke into a South African military arms store at the weekend and made off with 117 automatic weapons and four rocket launchers, a military official said on Tuesday. The thieves wrote "Viva Mandela" and "Kill the Boers (farmers)" in metal filings left on the floor. Lieutenant Colonel Charl de Klerk said police and the army were running parallel investigations into the heist, which probably occurred on Saturday. "The burglars used professional... (GunPolicy.org)

JOHANNESBURG — The indiscriminate use of guns is something that needs to be addressed urgently, says Justice Minister Dullah Omar. Speaking to Network Radio Services yesterday after visiting the relatives of six-month-old Angelina Zwane in Benoni, Mr Omar said he knew the Department of Safety and Security was addressing the issue. He said the present gun laws needed drastic revision and heavy penalties should be imposed for the misuse and illegal use of... (GunPolicy.org)

In 1997 police lost 1,802 guns mostly through robbery or housebreaking. A total of 932 firearms were robbed form police service members, 321 were lost because of housebreaking into private and official quarters, 40 were stolen from state vehicles, 44 were stolen from private vehicles, and 35 were stolen after vehicle collisions in which police were killed or injured. Replying to further questions, Minister Mufamadi said 89 firearms were lost by police while on guard... (GunPolicy.org)

OSLO — About 15 West African nations will meet in Oslo next week to seek a moratorium on supplies of assault rifles and other small arms to the region, organisers said on Friday. "For us this is a breakthrough in work on the proliferation of small arms which is one of the main sources of war and human rights abuse in the 1990s," Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers, told Reuters. Egeland said Mali's President Alpha Oumar Konare... (GunPolicy.org)

KAMPALA — Four Chinese construction workers and three Ugandans were shot dead in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Monday by a rogue policeman who later shot himself, police said on Tuesday. The shootings at 7.30 p.m. local time (1630 GMT) came hours before United States President Bill Clinton arrived in Uganda on the second stage of a six-nation tour of Africa. Police said they were investigating the killings for which there was no obvious motive. The Chinese,... (GunPolicy.org)

CAPE TOWN — Capetonians under threat of gang violence are arming themselves, and in some areas licence applications are doubling each month Licensed guns for use in self-defence in the "old South Africa" were predominantly a luxury few people of colour were allowed — or could afford. They lived in communities where guns were forbidden to the law-abiding citizen and they proved the argument advanced by many pro-gun lobbyists around the world, namely: "If guns are... (GunPolicy.org)