Law on small arms and light weapons to be passed

NORTHERN PROVINCE MUSANZE — Local authorities have been asked to engage residents in the search and voluntary hand over of illegal small arms and light weapons exercise before the new law on arms legislation is passed. During an awareness convention on ‘the new law on arms legislation’ it was revealed that once passed in its present form, the new law gives six months grace period to whoever will voluntarily hand over the illegal arms and after which the culprits shall be handled as criminals. The meeting was attended by law enforcement agencies including the police, army, district authorities, civil society organisations and prisons officials. The law takes into account the forms of acquisition, possession and how one obtained any form of arms. The workshop which was organised by Safer-Rwanda in partnership with the Rwanda National Focal Point on Small arms (RNFP) aimed at sensitising the local authorities ahead of the new law. Christine Muhongerwa, Safer-Rwanda coordinator, called on law enforcement agents to educate the population on the dangers of illegally possessing arms. She observed that too many fire arms in the wrong hands are a cause for insecurity amongst people. Supt. Eric Kairanga, the coordinator of RNFP said that the new arms legislation once passed will help in the prosecution of those in possession of illegal arms. He pointed out that the country enjoys good security and this renders those arms a threat within the community. He said that the number of weapons in the hands of civilians is large with most having been distributed before and during the genocide. According to the 2004 Geneva Small Arms Survey, there are over 30m small arms and weapons circulating in sub-Sahara Africa and 70% of them are believed to be in the hands of the civilians, 19% in police and military hands and 2% with militias. Since the establishment of RNFP, 160 tonnes of ammunition and unexploded ordnances have been destroyed in the last two years. Rwanda is a signatory to the Nairobi Declaration and the Nairobi Protocol which aim at enhancing regional cooperation in the fight against small arms and light weapons. Ends