Nairobi, Kenya, June 29, 2006 – Somalia is an example of how illicit arms transfer can undermine regional security and erode development efforts, Kenya told the United Nations on Tuesday.

Calling for international support for Somalia’s transitional government, Kenya’s chief delegate to the UN review conference on small arms warned that "in the absence of institutions of governance in Somalia, security in that country remains a pipe dream".

Internal security permanent secretary Cyrus Gituai suggested that the United States-initiated Somalia Contact Group should become a more "inclusive partnership".

Stabilize Somalia

Kenya was not invited to join the recently established six-nation group that seeks to stabilize Somalia.

Mr. Gituai pointed out in his speech to delegates from 120 nations gathered in New York that Kenya has been "using her own resources" to promote security in Somalia.  

More than 200 Somalis are being trained in Kenyan police institutions, the PS said. Kenya has played a leading international role in promoting controls on the small arms that have killed more than one million people in the five years since the first UN conference on such weaponry.

Two months ago, Nairobi hosted a global consensus-building meeting on controlling unauthorized sales of assault rifles and similar arms to non-state groups in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region.  

Parties to the Nairobi Protocol have established a Regional Centre on Small Arms that offers a model other UN member-states should consider replicating, Mr. Gituai said.

The ongoing conference at UN headquarters expected to end on July 7, should adopt specific measures to block illicit small arms transfers at the global level, Mr. Gituai added.

Room for improvement

He said there has been progress on marking and tracing small arms since the 2001 conference.

But there is room for improvement based on the gaps in the programme of action adopted at the conference, according to Mr. Gituai.

Source: Daily Nation

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