Conference on Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons trafficking along the borders of Sudan

129 Pages·2003·1.3 MB·English

Conference on
Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons
trafficking along the borders of
Sudan, Uganda and DR Congo

17 - 21 February 2003
Arua, Uganda

Table of contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................4
1.1. Background.....................................................................................................................................4
1.2. Objectives of the conference..........................................................................................................5
2. Presentation of the organising organisations and opening remarks........................................................6
2.1. Presentation of the organising organisations..................................................................................6
2.2. Opening remarks.............................................................................................................................7
3. Presentation of the three researches........................................................................................................8
3.1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................8
3.2. Presentation of the research in South West Sudan..........................................................................8
3.3. Democratic Republic of Congo....................................................................................................10
3.4. Uganda..........................................................................................................................................14
3.5. Synthesis of researches.................................................................................................................14
4. Arms trafficking and the Nairobi Declaration......................................................................................15
4.1. International illicit trafficking of arms by George Berghezan of GRIP........................................15
4.2. Nairobi Declaration: mapping the role of civil society by Mr. Francis Wanyina.........................17
5. Discussions per sector group................................................................................................................18
5.1. Group 1: Churches and other religious bodies..............................................................................18
5.2. Group 2: State/Government group................................................................................................19
5.3. Group 3: Civil Society Organisations...........................................................................................20
5.4. Plenary discussion........................................................................................................................20
6. Debate on strategies by country............................................................................................................21
6.1. Uganda..........................................................................................................................................21
6.2. Democratic Republic of Congo....................................................................................................22
6.3. Sudan............................................................................................................................................23
7. final resolutions....................................................................................................................................24
7.1. Recommendations to the religious organisations..........................................................................25
7.2. Recommendations to the NGOs...................................................................................................25
7.3. Recommendations to the government and rebel forces (rule of law)...........................................25
7.4. International appeals.....................................................................................................................26
7.5. Appeals to all stakeholders...........................................................................................................27
8. Closing session.....................................................................................................................................27
Annexe
Annexe 1 List of participants..................................................................................................................29
Annexe 2 Small arms proliferation in North West Uganda.....................................................................34
Annexe 3 Proliferation and illicit traffic of small arms and light weapons in the North East of the
Democratic Republic of Congo...............................................................................................63
Annexe 4 Proliferation and trafficking in illicit small arms and light weapons in Yambio, Maridi, Kajo-
Keji and Yei River counties, Equatoria, South Sudan.............................................................88
Annexe 5 Transfers of weapons towards the actors involved in the conflict in the Democratic Republic
of Congo...............................................................................................................................118
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1. Introduction
1.1. Background
From 17 to 21 February 2003 a Conference on Illicit small arms and light weapons
trafficking along the borders of the Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of
Congo was organised in the north-western Ugandan town of Arua. The conference was
organised under the auspices of Pax Christi Netherlands. The conference concerned the
region of NW Uganda, NE Congo and SW Sudan.
Figuur 1 Central Africa and the region concerned for the conference
The background of the conference goes back to an earlier tripartite meeting between
Uganda, Kenya and Sudan. That conference, in 2001, addressed the issue of the flow of
small arms in the pastoralist areas of the border areas of Sudan, North Eastern Uganda
and North-western Kenya. It was a unique conference uniting government officials
(national and local), churches and NGOs all pre-occupied with the harassment of small
arms. Although the problems are of a different character, it was obvious that the small
arms problem in the border region of NW Uganda, NE Congo and SW Sudan was
enormous with two of the three countries fallen prey to civil warfare. Therefor, calls were
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made for a similar meeting addressing the same issues. The conference was to be held in
Arua, NW Uganda, which is centrally located and had the facilities to receive such a
large number.
Delegates from Uganda came from the districts of Arua, Yumbe, Moyo and Nebbi plus
some national representatives. Delegates from the Democratic Republic of Congo came
from Bunia, Mahagi, Aru, Isiro and Dungu. Delegates from Sudan came from Kajo-Keji
county, Yei river county, Maridi county, Yambio county and Ezzo county. From each
district or county came representatives from the local government, from the churches
(catholic, protestant and muslim) and from local NGOs. On top of these delegates each
country had national representatives. In the case of Uganda that concerned the Uganda
Human Rights Commission, the Uganda Joint Christian Council, the Episcopal
Conference of Uganda and the Uganda Action Network on Small Arms (UANSA). In the
case of Congo national representatives came from the national government
(representative of the minister of Human Rights) and from the Episcopal Conference of
Congo. In the case of Sudan the SPLA/SPLM and the New Sudan Council of Churches
was represented. Next to national representatives there were a number of regional and
international organisations present. We can mention especially FECCLAHA (the ten
member Fellowship of Councils of Churches in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa),
AMECEA (the association of member Episcopal conferences of East Africa), IANSA
(the International Action Network on Small Arms), SaferAfrica, ICCO, UNAFRI and a
researcher from GRIP in Brussels.
1.2. Objectives of the conference
The objectives of the Conference were as follows: -
• produce, present and exchange up to date, well researched information on cross
border flows of small arms
• design joint strategies to combat the illicit arms trade and to protect disarmament
initiatives from interference by arms trafficking rings
• determine interventions by the international community in support of these strategies.
In pursuance of the first two objectives of the Conference, three organisations from the
concerned countries carried out research in the border areas with the support of Pax
Christi Netherlands. The three organisations were CEFORD (Uganda), Justice Plus
(DRC) and Larjour Consultancy (Southern Sudan). The three research reports were
distributed and discussed during the conference. The debate on the researches contributed
to the definition of strategies for the various actors. GRIP gave a presentation on “Arms
trafficking towards the actors involved in the DRC Conflict”. There presentation was
widely discussed and contributed among others to the formulation of interventions by the
international community. The presentation of GRIP included the entire conflict in the
Great Lakes Region and was not limited to the border region.
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2. Presentation of the organising organisations and
opening remarks
2.1. Presentation of the organising organisations
The five organising organisations presented themselves :
Pax Christi was founded at the aftermath of the second world war in Europe. Local
catholic communities concerned with peace saw the need for reconciliation between the
peoples of Germany and France who had been in war with each other for three different
occasions in the past hundred years. Soon after, Pax Christi sections were founded in
many European countries, today the movement has member organisations in about forty
countries in the world. After the second world war, Pax Christi played an important role
during the cold war in maintaining contacts on different sides of the iron curtain. Later
on, the placement of missiles in Western Europe was a major topic. It was therefor only a
logical step that Pax Christi is now more and more involved in Africa and that the small
arms issues is predominant on it’s agenda. The first conference we organised on this issue
was the Jinja conference on small arms with pastoralist communities in the border region
of Uganda, Kenya and Sudan. A number of researches on small arms proliferation have
been realised.
CEFORD Director, Simon Amajuru presented Ceford, which is a development NGO
working in West Nile in NW Uganda. He brought in the philosophical dimension by
quoting the ancient Chinese sage, Lao Tsu, who had said that:” the superior fighter
succeeds without violence…the greatest conqueror wins without struggle” thus laying
emphasis on non adversarial and consensual methods in conflict resolution.
Mr. Honore Musoko presented Justice Plus. Justice Plus is a Human Rights NGO
involved in the wartorn region of Ituri. It has been active there for the pas five year and it
has active members in all localities of the district. Justice Plus is involved in juridical
assistance for local people, in human rights investigations and reporting and in peace
building. Justice Plus has been active in peace building efforts at the outbreak of the war
in Ituri and has been a very prominent activist organisation on human rights violations in
the region.
Mr. Peter Adwok presented Larjour Consultancy. Larjour consultancy started as a
consultancy agency active in southern Sudan. More and more though it became an
activist organisation. Larjour Consultancy and Mr. Peter Adwok have been very active on
the issue of small arms. Larjour Consultancy has been involved in the research in Eastern
Equatoria and was one of the organisers of the Jinja conference.
Canon Joyce Nima from the Uganda Joint Christian Council gave on behalf of fecclaha a
rundown on what Churches have been doing at local, national, Panafrican and global
levels to tackle the small arms issue. Her presentation covered the UN Small Arms
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Decade during which the World Council of Churches (WCC) took an active role on
combating small arms. The WCC brought the issue into the All African Conference of
Churches and its constituent members. At the regional level it was FECCLAHA (the ten
member Fellowship of Councils of Churches in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa)
who was to assist the national church organisations in defining policies and implementing
strategies. With support from fecclaha the national church bodies like UJCC in Uganda
was able to train the different churches on small arms and to actively participate in the
national focus points. Canon Joyce Nima pointed out that the faith groups have their
parallel structures alongside civil society organisations at all levels. At the global level
the UN works in concert with the World Council of Churches and IANSA, the sub region
links up FECCLAHA and EANSA (the East African Network of Small Arms). At
national level you have the National Christian Councils dealing with the National Focal
Points. Their activities have mainly revolved around the implementation of the action
points developed at the 2001 Jinja Conference and the training of small technical
committees to monitor the flow of small arms.
The AMECEA representative, Str. Begonna Inarra for her part explained how the
Catholic Church works through its Justice and Peace Commissions in most of the
countries in the region with the exception of Somalia. AMECEA does not cover DR
Congo. Within the catholic church DR Congo is part of ACEAC (Association des
Conférences Episcopales de l’Afrique Centrale). Str. Begonna Inarra is also representing
ACEAC here.
2.2. Opening remarks
The Deputy Resident Commissioner for Arua opened the conference and welcomed all
participants. In his opening remarks he expressed his appreciation for the opportunity for
delegations from Sudan, Congo and Uganda to freely share ideas given the fact that the
three countries have close social, political and economic ties. On behalf of the then
Minster of State for Regional Co-operation who was unable to attend due to official
duties outside the country, the Resident District Commissioner for Arua read the Uganda
Government’s official statement. He pointed to the positive developments registered in
NW Uganda in the aftermath of a successful peace agreement concluded with the Uganda
National Rescue Front II which had handed over important arms caches to the State. The
RDC called upon the neighbouring countries to emulate the example. He reiterated his
government’s commitment to the implementation of regional arrangements such as the
Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam Declarations in addressing the control of small arms and the
application of measures aimed at the curbing of proliferation and trafficking. He called
for focus and objectivity in this endeavour that is also a challenge to the reality of
national borders but which could be tempered with the all embracing ideology of
Panafricanism. Also, human rights are issues across all borders. International networking
and collaboration is therefor of utmost importance. This idea was echoed by the Local
Council V Chairman who cautioned that the potential refugee flows would remain a
threat to the extent that problems arising from arms trafficking and proliferation are not
adequately tackled.
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A senior civil servant for the DRC Ministry of Human Rights, while applauding the
initiative, reminded about the practical aspect in terms of the implementation of
Conference resolutions in the interest of sustainable peace and stability. There is a need,
according to him, that the illicit trafficking of small arms in the border region and into
Congo is brought to a standstill.
Commander Samuel Abu-John Kabashi of the SPLA reiterated that 20 years of conflicts
and wars had wrought havoc in the Sudan and it was only proper that demining be
undertaken and proliferation checked to restore normalcy to the region.
3. Presentation of the three researches
3.1. Introduction
The three research reports were presented in the following order:
• Sudan: “Proliferation and trafficking in illicit arms and light weapons in the border
areas between DR Congo, South Sudan and Uganda.
• Democratic Republic of Congo: “Proliferation and illicit traffic of small arms and
light weapons in the Northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo”
• Uganda: “Small Arms Proliferation in the border areas of Uganda”
The researches were photocopied and distributed to all participants in the two prevailing
languages. Each organisation responsible for a research gave a verbal summary of the
main data found during the research. Each session was concluded with a plenary
discussion on the research, it’s findings and the eventual recommendations.
3.2. Presentation of the research in South West Sudan
The Sudan report covered the central and western Equatoria counties of Kajo-Keji, Yei
River, Maridi, Yambio and Ezzo counties and was undertaken by Larjour Consultancy
between November and December 2002. Protracted conflict and war in landlocked
Southern Sudan has marked the development process, which is typified by poor
infrastructure, a subsistence economy based on rudimentary agriculture and animal
husbandry at the household level augmented by hunting and fishing. This parlous state
has proved to be an enabling environment for all manner of illicit trade within the
meaning of national and international legal instruments. The research was carried out as a
sequel to an earlier survey in 2001 in Eastern Equatoria and whose findings were
presented to the Jinja meeting.
Differences and similarities in scope and scale exist between the two areas of Equatoria.
In both cases the nature of the illegal trade is such that high-ranking officers in the
SPLM/A and Government of Sudan use third parties to engage in the contraband as a
way of enhancing incomes. However the Western Equatoria study highlights the small-
scale individual operations, which also reflects the type of economic activity. This
situation is different from the picture that emerged from studies in Eastern Equatoria
where, on function of the intensity of the civil war a larger, more organised traffic on
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small arms is predominant. The more agrarian eastern equatoria is more engaged in
game poaching as opposed to the cattle rustling that calls for the large-scale acquisition
of firearms on the East.
The study therefore had four objectives namely to: -
• Collect first hand information and gather data on the sources, types and manner of
acquisition of small arms and the trend of proliferation and trafficking;
• Identify gun markets, arms traders, routes of transfer and quantities and prices of
small arms and light weapons;
• Determine the impact of illicit trade and trafficking in small arms and light weapons
on the local communities;
• Ascertain attempts made by the authorities to curb the proliferation and trafficking in
illicit arms and light weapons.

The field research revealed that the absence of organised selling points seen in the West
did not necessarily mean there was no trafficking at all in the four counties with the AK
47 featuring prominently due to its easy availability form deserters and others. Arms
acquisition was mainly for self-defence given the complete breakdown of law and order
but also for the purposes of big game poaching.
Internal and external factors have played a role in the trade. As internal factors can be
cited failed military campaigns and the desertion of Government of Sudan garrison
towns. These incidents increased weapons flows from the more northerly regions of Bahr
el Ghazal and Upper Nile into western Equatoria. External factors were for example the
fall of the Mobutu regime in DR Congo in 1997 which brought widespread desertions of
army elements coupled with handovers and sales of small arms to the SPLA and the local
population.
The impact of the undisciplined elements combined with the mass desertions from the
SPLA have led not only to the depletion of wildlife and dispersal of herds into the
countries neighbouring SPLA-controlled territory but also to the aggravation of the
tenuous food security situation. This is mainly due to the clashes between the agrarian
communities and the cattle herding groups. This has in turn raised governance issues
around law enforcement capacity in terms of policing and arms control by the SPLA in
its swathe of territory.
The study then continues with recommendations addressing the security sector, its legal
framework and enforcement, the training of personnel, terms and conditions of service,
etc. The role of traditional authorities is then discussed. The sensitisation to be carried out
by the civil society has a three pronged approach: NGOs, Community Based
Organisations and religious groups all working towards self reliance, self sufficiency in
food and the provision of services in a bid to avert short termist solutions to poverty and
insecurity. The final recommendations appeals to the international, inter African and
regional institutions to assist the SPLA in capacity building to enable it to meet these
challenges in a more adequate manner.
The debate on the report centred on gender by raising queries on the dearth of
information in the report on women and child respondents and secondly on the very
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presence of women in the delegation. The international status of the SPLA in the context
of the Nairobi Declaration that has ten States signatories also came up as well as the
presence and activities of SPLA combatants in the Democratic Republic of Congo
namely in the Aba area of Isiro and the Garamba National Park. The response was
somewhat inconclusive in that the figure of 90% of victims of violence being women and
children does not adequately address the gender question especially as the bulk of food
production in Africa is a women’s affair. A thorough gender analysis of production and
land systems tenure in this agrarian area would have given a clearer picture of the impact
of a breakdown in law and order on vulnerable sectors of the population and hence the
urgency for a curb on illicit trafficking. The status of the SPLA is that, while it is not
recognised as a sovereign State, it is the de facto power controlling most of Sudan’s
border areas with the Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Kenya and Western
Ethiopia. This factor had a bearing in the recommendations made in the paper but mainly
addressed to the SPLA. Also, it is to be observed that a deeper contextual analysis of the
impact of conflict in general and the illicit trade in particular on the level of development
in the four counties could have led to more recommendations on the enhanced role of the
civil society and religious organisations.

3.3. Democratic Republic of Congo
The DRC report concerns the actual situation along the borders with Sudan and Uganda.
A team made up of religious bodies and human rights organisations from the Ituri and
Upper Uele regions covered the areas of Bunia, Aru, Mahagi, Isiro and Dungu-Doruma.
It was pointed out from the outset that due to the on going conflict and the resultant
insecurity it was very difficult to realise this survey. Even when it was possible to visit
the different regions, suspicion and hesitation on the part of some of the respondents did
not augur well for the data collection exercise. The dynamics of conflict in the North
Eastern part of the DRC is best understood by the artificial nature of colonial era borders
that split ethnic groups and clusters. Geographical, historical, socio-economic and
cultural factors have therefore come into play in cross border alliances, between local and
foreign armed groups. The second factor is the mineral wealth in the area known to have
whetted the appetites of economic and commercial interests. The report delves into the
background of the conflict over time. From the conflicts between Amin and Obote in the
Uganda of the 1960s to the refugee influx from neighbouring countries in the aftermath
of the Rwanda genocide to the fall of Mobutu. The resultant power vacuum and the
general poor governance in the Great Lakes Region has created instability. Amongst the
immediate causes are the political power struggles and the manipulation of external
forces spurred by their respective interests.
According to the findings, the main actors in the conflict are greedy politicians who have
exploited both the internal and external factors. The paper makes a distinction between
external and internal factors that have aggravated the conflict. Aggravating internal
factors include generalised insecurity, uncontrolled arms sales and political immaturity.
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