VILLAGE URUGWIRO - The visiting heads of Africa Regional Police Chiefs’ Organisations, yesterday paid a courtesy call on President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro.

The police officers are drawn from the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO), CAPCCO, Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO), West African Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

They are in the country to attend a meeting organised by the Regional Centre on Small Arms in the Great Lakes Region, the Horn of Africa and Bordering States (RECSA).

The meeting aims at working out mechanisms to fight the accumulation and trafficking of illicit firearms in Africa.

Speaking shortly after meeting the President, Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel Gasana said the chiefs lauded the President for taking an upper hand in ensuring the security and development of the country.

The Executive Secretary of RECSA, Francis Sang, commended Rwanda for being at the forefront in fighting against the proliferation of illicit small arms in the region.

"We chose Rwanda (to host the meeting) because there are quite a lot of programmes on small arms under implementation. We take Rwanda as a role model in this particular region,” Sang said.

"There were illicit arms in Rwanda following the war and the Genocide and the government took measures to destroy them,”

"This is what we want to do in other regions. If Rwanda can be able to do it and neighbouring countries cannot do, then we are not succeeding,” he lamented.

He observed that this was the rationale behind the cooperation since the problem of proliferation small arms and illicit weapons cannot be tackled by one country.

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