The gun culture, now rampant in Yoweri Museveni's Uganda, pretty much lead to illegal activity of exporting guns to Ivory Coast warring parties ...I reckong the Brits (through British firms now established in Uganda) are probably involved in supplying the said weapons...if only to undermine French influence in Ivory Coast!!!
MK
Ugandan Firms Named in Ivory Coast Arms Scam
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The Monitor (Kampala)
January 1, 2005
Posted to the web January 3, 2005
Kakaire A. Kirunda
Mbale
Unnamed Ugandan companies are said to be contributing to the proliferation of small arms in the war-torn West African state of Ivory Coast through eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Eastern Congo, that has been torn apart by civil wars, has over 100 airfields and landing airstrips, which are used mainly for smuggling.
Light arms researcher, Mr Peter Danssaert, is quoted in a special Voice of America report, saying many hot spots in Sub-Saharan Africa are awash with light weapons in the hands of unemployed and dispossessed youths.
Danssaert said arms and ammunitions have also continued to arrive from Eastern Europe and from companies in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
He said warlords work closely with criminal business networks, which thrive in unstable and lawless situations.
"These networks are active in the commodity sectors- the basic commodities- but also in natural resources. It's more profitable for them because war creates a power vacuum or you could also say that the power vacuum created the war. But the fact is that it makes it more profitable for certain individuals," Danssaert said.
When contacted about the alleged Ugandan companies' involvement in arms smuggling, the Uganda Police spokesman, Mr Assuman Mugenyi, said the force had not received any such report.
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"Though I cannot rule out this possibility.
' There are many international companies that could also be registered here but as long as no crime has been committed on Ugandan territory, we may have nothing much to do," Mugenyi said
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