The first sub-regional small arms-sensitive civil society consultative forum on the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States Small Arms Control Programme (Ecosap) opened on Wednesday at the Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

About a 100 members of the civil society including delegates from 13 Ecowas member states are participating in the two-day Waansa (West African Action Network on Small Arms) and the Ecosap- jointly organised forum, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Office in the Ivorian capital. A three-member Gambian delegation, headed by Pamela Cole, National Coordinator of the West African Network for Peace-building (Wanep) The Gambia, is participating in the forum.

Presiding over the opening ceremony, Professor Mamadou Koulibally, President of the National Assembly of Cote d’Ivoire, spurred the participants and other stakeholders against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons to do away with "gradualism" to urgently address the phenomenon facing the sub-region, adding that "this can no longer be allowed". Pro Koulibally warned against the habitual lackadaisical approach to resolve sub-regional problems, adding that the proliferation and circulation of arms and ammunition is deeply- rooted in West Africa.

He said out of the 72 coups in Africa, 51 per cent occured in West Africa. He then made a recollection of armed conflicts in Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea Conakry to back-up his assertion on the dangers posed by small arms and light weapons circulation. He recalled that during the disarmament process in Sierra Leone, it was revealed that each combatant could have had three weapons, noting that these weapons are not manufactured in the sub-region.

The Ivorian National Assembly President pointed out that the mass circulation of small arms in the sub-region threatens the foundation of peace in various countries of Ecowas and also undermines development.

Professor Koulibally implored on Ecowas member states to ratify the Ecowas Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons to consolidate peace in the region and paddle towards more progress in the sub-region. He then commended Ecosap and Waansa for choosing Cote d’Ivoire as the host country for the forum.

He urged the participants to devise strategic plans that will cement peace, stability and security in the sub-region, especially in Cote d’Ivoire which is emerging from a protracted conflict that had divided the country between the north and south. He expressed hope that the peace process in his native West African country would be fruitful.

General Adjoussou, President of the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons of Cote d’Ivoire, amplified that the sub-region has been struck by illegal circulation which negatively influences the people of Ecowas to use arms to vent their grievances in unnecessary disputes. He informed the gathering that at least 10 million light weapons were in circulation within the sub-region from 1960-1990. According to him, this trend depicts gloomy future for the sub-region if not urgently tackled.  He said the consequence of these weapons has continued to undermine the governance process in the sub-region.

General Adjoussou lauded the engagement of the  civil society, including journalists in the anti-small arms and light weapon programme and urged the people of the sub-region not to use weapons to enforce their dissatisfaction.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by Jonathan Sandy, Programme Manager of Waansa, Colonel Muhamne Toure, Ecowas Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peacekeeping and Security, called for unanimity of purpose to consolidate peace in the sub-region.

Col Toure expounded on the achievements made by Ecowas in combating the proliferation and circulation of small arms and light weapons in the sub-region which, according to him, gave birth to Ecosap. He said the programme provided 14 Land-Cruiser vehicles to national commission to facilitate service delivery in Ecowas member sates. He then thanked the UNDP and other partners for their support.

Andre Carvalho, Director of UNDP Office in Cote d’Ivoire, expressed UNDP’s to support capacity-building initiatives that are geared towards fighting small arms and light weapons. Mr. Carvalho observed the need for the harmonisation of approaches by various stakeholders to ensure coherence in respective interventions.

Baffour Dokyi Amoa, President of the West African Action Network on Small Arms (Waansa), officials of Ecosap also spoke at the opening ceremony.

This forum came after Ecowas member states signed a new robust and regionally binding legal instrument – the Convention and Small Arms and Light Weapons – to prevent and combat the excessive and destabilising accumulation of small arms and light weapons within Ecowas. It also came after the launching of Ecosap on 6th June 2006, which was established to support the capacity-building drive of member states, through their national commissions on small arms.
 
As I filed this report yesterday, delegates were attending sessions on Ecosap, Waansa, among others. These sessions were intended to prepare delegates for groups' works on the theme of the sub-regional gathering.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Ivorian government officials and security chiefs, a handful retired generals from a number of West African countries, officers and personnel of the Ivorian Armed Forces and the Ivorian Police Force, and members of the civil society.