The NRM has continiuosly promoted the gun culture in Uganda and the Great Lakes Region of Africa.. why the moaning and wippering this time around if and when some war lord decides to bring in GUNS? fuba!
MK
Uganda: New Guns Smuggled Into Uganda From Europe Says Army
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The New Times (Kigali)
August 17, 2006
Posted to the web August 18, 2006
Posted to the web August 18, 2006
Charles Kazooba
Kigali
Kigali
The Ugandan army authorities are worried of an influx of new guns littering the eastern parts of the country. The Chief of Personnel and Administration in the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces,
Col. Phenehas Katirima, told Parliament that new guns suspected to have been smuggled from European countries are held by Karamojong warriors and other groups. "Brand new guns from western Europe, across the Mediterranean and the middle East have been seen in Karamoja. I am very sure they are not from Africa," Katirima told legislators on the Defence and Internal Affairs parliamentary committee.
The committee had summoned the Ministry of Defence officials to respond to queries raised during the previous policy statement debate.
The proliferation of small arms and light weapons has undermined Africa's economy and society.
Katirima said the army has received reports that the new guns are "dropped every month."
"You just look at them and you are able to tell whether they are new or not. But we have confirmed that they come from Europe," Katirima, claimed.
Several African countries have signed the 2004 Nairobi Protocol for the Prevention, control and reduction of small arms and light weapons in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa.
Cross-border proliferation of small arms through non-state actors and other illegal networks is a considerable challenge in the region. The solution lies in harmonizing
national legislation and systematically plugging gaps and loopholes.
President Yoweri Museveni has instructed the UPDF and Uganda Police force to disarm Karamojong warriors known to have a deep interest in arms.
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The United Nations has overwhelming supported the disarmament process, and has committed large sums of funds but Katirima said: "But some of the countries where those arms are coming from are members of the UN and they are powerful. They demand that we disarm and burn the arms but again it is them that are manufacturing those guns."
He
added: "As we burn the old ones, new ones are dropped in. It is a question of capitalism. Those manufacturers must keep manufacturing new brands which they have to sell."
The Defence State Minister Ruth Nankabirwa observed that numerous conflicts in the region have attracted arms' dealers to the region, who have reliably maintained the proliferation of small arms
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