§ 29. Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects her Department supports which tackle the problems of small arms trafficking in sub-saharan Africa. [115458]
§ Clare ShortWorking through sub-regional organisations and institutions, we support a number of projects aimed at reducing the proliferation of small arms in Africa including through controlling trafficking.
DFID has provided some £300,000 through UNDP for the implementation of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Moratorium on the importation, exportation and manufacture of light weapons.
This year, we funded the conference on "Tackling Small Arms Proliferation in Eastern Africa and the Greater Horn" which led to an outline Action Plan for the sub-region which will tackle the subject of arms trafficking. This contributed to the March 2000 Nairobi Declaration which maps out a sub-regional approach to the proliferation of small arms.
In 1998, DFID funded the seminar that produced the EU/Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) sub-regional action programme on small arms which was 184W endorsed by EU/SADC Ministers in Vienna. DFID has provided funding to take this action programme forward, including holding a conference in South Africa in May 1999 with all key stakeholders to define practical measures. We have also supported the participation of representatives of the sub-region at the UN Firearms Protocol negotiations.