The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, has called for an international instrument to combat what he termed Africa’s “weapons of mass destruction”.
Presenting President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s address at the annual high level debate at the 63rd session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York yesterday, Maduekwe observed that small and light weapons had fuelled conflicts in the continent.
It is time for a global pact to stop the scourge, he added.
Maduekwe had gone to the UN to represent the President, following Yar’Adua’s insistence on monitoring his administration’s proposed cabinet reshuffle.
“Because of their lethality and ready deployment, they may be described as Africa’s weapons of mass destruction,” said the minister.
He stated that Nigeria believes the best way to combat the “illicit and deadly trade” in such weapons is through a legally binding international agreement, backed by the will of nations to curb its proliferation.
The minister urged the international community to treat “blood oil” the same way “blood diamond” was criminalised.
“There is need, therefore, for urgent action to criminalise oil bunkering, the sale of oil so acquired and the use of its proceeds to fuel new crisis situations in Africa, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, through the proliferation of small arms and light weapons,” he said. The Cambodian Secretary of State Ouch Borith also commented on the danger of small weapons.
He said Cambodia, a country ravaged by conflict for over 20 years, had witnessed the consequences of such weapons.
He stated that his country had taken practical measures to control the use and circulation of arms and ammunition and to curb its illegal sales and procurement.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had earlier this year issued the first-ever report to the Security Council on small arms.
In the document, made public in April, Ban observed that currently most conflicts were fought using mainly small arms and light weapons, being widely used in inter-state conflicts as well as in civil wars, terrorism, organised crime and gang warfare.
The report pointed out the need for collaboration between the Council and the General Assembly to curb the illicit flow of arms and ammunition to crisis and conflict areas.
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