Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ACCRA1855
2006-08-14 12:11:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Accra
Cable title:
ILLEGAL SMALL ARMS IN GHANA
how-toVZCZCXRO9652 RR RUEHMA RUEHPA DE RUEHAR #1855/01 2261211 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 141211Z AUG 06 FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2109 INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0037
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001855
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
NSC FOR COURVILLE, JUSTICE FOR ICITAP AND OPDAT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL PGOV PHUM KCRM MOPS ASEC GH
SUBJECT: ILLEGAL SMALL ARMS IN GHANA
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001855
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
NSC FOR COURVILLE, JUSTICE FOR ICITAP AND OPDAT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL PGOV PHUM KCRM MOPS ASEC GH
SUBJECT: ILLEGAL SMALL ARMS IN GHANA
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Ghana has an estimated 150,000 illegal
arms. Most are crude locally made guns, but there is an
unknown quantity of arms trafficking from elsewhere in West
Africa. Ghana,s Small Arms Commission has worked with the
UNDP and civil society on the issue since 2003 through the
Ghana Small Arms Program. GOG efforts to combat the problem
are hindered by porous borders, lack of police capacity and
poor data collection. Corruption in smuggling and trafficking
is also a challenge. The UNDP is seeking technical assistance
to map the regional distribution, trafficking routes, and
manufacturing sites of illicit guns in Ghana and to provide
income alternatives to local blacksmiths producing illegal
weapons. While the presence of illicit small arms is not
currently a source of instability in Ghana, further study of
the issue would better inform our understanding and the
government,s preventive work to address the issue. End
Summary.
--------------
GHANA,S SMALL ARMS PROBLEMS
--------------
2. (U) A 2005 baseline study funded by the UNDP estimates
that there are a minimum of 125,000 illicit guns in Ghana.
This includes 50,000 industrial guns (trafficked from abroad,
leaked from the police, or guns with expired licenses) and
75,000 produced by local blacksmiths. (Note: While blacksmith
production is not illegal, many of these guns are
un-registered. End note.) The baseline study was not
statistically rigorous, but was based on field interviews and
estimations by researchers.
3. (U) Guns made by local blacksmiths cost as little as USD
3.30 each. Locally manufactured pistols are linked to
violent crime in Ghana. According to government reports and
the Africa Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR),assailants
use locally manufactured pistols in 60 percent of all
recorded armed robberies.
4. (U) Weaknesses in the Ghana Police Service (GPS)
contribute to the small arms problem. Citizens get frustrated
with the failures of the GPS and at times take the law into
their own hands with locally made guns.
--------------
TRANS-BORDER PROBLEMS
--------------
5. (SBU) More sophisticated weapons cross Ghana,s porous
borders, stemming from conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone
during the 1990s, or from the more recent conflict in Cote
d,Ivoire. During a recent visit by PDAS for Verification,
Compliance and Implementation (VCI) Chris Ford, Minister of
National Security Francis Poku said, &we concede that we
have porous borders that are hard to control. We are trying
to get the latest technology to improve monitoring of the
borders.8
6. (U) ASDR research fellow Emmanuel Sowatey identified
foreign sources fueling the sub-region,s arms supply, noting
that &former Soviet states in Eastern Europe have few
controls on their arms industry.8 The West African Action
Network on Small Arms (WAANSA) is working with the U.K. to
address the issue of arms controls in Europe.
7. (U) Sowatey told Poloff that there has been &gun
running8 in the northwest region of the country in the
tri-border area where Ghana meets Cote d,Ivoire and Burkina
Faso. He stated that demand for weapons had come from
rebel-held territory in the northern part of Cote d,Ivoire
and that &corrupt (Ghanaian) security agencies8 were a
major challenge.
8. (SBU) Superintendent of Police Francis Nyarko, the police
officer most involved in handling small arms issues,
similarly identified the problem of weapons smuggling from
Cote d,Ivoire. &People need money to buy food and therefore
they will smuggle,8 he said, adding that &Refugees are not
screened properly. There are no resources to screen them and
they can bring guns.8
9. (U) Nyarko and others highlighted the need for data
ACCRA 00001855 002 OF 003
collection. The UNDP is working on this with help from the
U.K., and seeks further assistance to map the regional
distribution of illicit gun trafficking and manufacturing in
Ghana.
--------------
MULTILATERAL SOLUTIONS
--------------
10. (U) On June 14, 2006 ECOWAS Heads of State and
Government met in Abuja, Nigeria to sign a &Convention on
Small Arms and Light Weapons, Their Ammunition and Other
Related Materials.8 The Convention replaces the 1998 ECOWAS
Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of
Light Weapons. The push for a sub-regional Convention emerged
from an initiative headed by the former Malian president. The
call to convert the voluntary moratorium into a binding
ECOWAS Convention came from a collective of civil society
groups linked through the West Africa Action Network on Small
Arms (WAANSA).
11. (U) The ECOWAS sub-regional approach is backed by the
UNDP,s ECOWAS Small Arms Program (ECOSAP),a USD 30 million
program that works to strengthen the capacity of the national
small arms commissions in ECOWAS member states and harmonize
their activities. ECOSAP is the successor to UNDP,s earlier
Program for Coordination and Assistance for Security and
Development (PCASED),which led to the establishment of small
arms commissions in 12 of the 15 ECOWAS member states.
12. (SBU) Afi Yakubu, a member of Ghana,s Small Arms
Commission and Associate Director of the Foundation for
Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA),told Emboff he
was disappointed with the recent Review Conference on the
Implementation of the 2001 UN Program of Action to Prevent,
Combat and Eradicate the illicit Trade in Small Arms and
Light Weapons. The Review Conference ended July 7 without
agreeing on an outcome document. Yakubu, who is also
Secretary of WAANSA, advocates an international legal
SIPDIS
instrument to combat the brokering of illicit arms. &You can
clean your house up well (in West Africa),but the flood
comes from outside,8 she stated.
--------------
GHANA,S DOMESTIC EFFORTS:
WORKING WITH THE UNDP
--------------
13. (U) The Ghanaian Small Arms Commission, created in 2001,
has been working with the UNDP since 2003. Local researchers
believe Ghana,s Commission is further along in implementing
the Convention than in other ECOWAS member states.
14. (U) The Ghana Small Arms Reduction and Conflict
Prevention program is a partnership between the Ministry of
Interior and the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms,
funded by the UNDP and other development partners (the UK is
the largest donor). The program began in 2003, with funding
for 2003-2005 totaling USD 480,000. Accomplishments of the
program include: a baseline survey of the illicit weapons
issue, initial implementation of a computerized firearms
registry, creation of an armed violence database that tracks
reports from Ghanaian news sources, and completion of a
public sensitization campaign on small arms.
15. (U) The Small Arms Commission has focused on public
outreach and the public destruction of illegal arms. The
Commission meets monthly and includes members from police,
military, Attorney General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Immigration service and the Customs service. Since 2001 the
Commission has destroyed 2,000 weapons. Awareness campaigns
are directed at youth in primary and secondary schools, and
include &Weapons Free Clubs8 created in two regions of the
country that have experienced ethnic disputes.
16. (U) Members of the Commission and the UNDP espouse the
benefits of the &arms for development8 approach to tackle
the issue of local production, focusing on creating economic
alternatives for the blacksmiths who produce un-registered
weapons. The Ashanti Regional Blacksmith Association assisted
police in the Ashanti Region to arrest arms producers. The
Small Arms Commission would like to repeat this success by
ACCRA 00001855 003 OF 003
taking the Ashanti Blacksmiths to help form collectives of
blacksmiths in each regional capital city.
--------------
GAPS
--------------
19. (SBU) A UNDP official identified the need for reliable
data as a significant gap in Ghana,s efforts to counter
small arms proliferation. He and one member of the Small Arms
Commission were unsatisfied with the work on the Baseline
Study, expressing that it lacked firm indications of which
parts of the country had the most significant small arms
issues. A police official echoed this concern, noting that
the GOG has run a manual paper gun registry for over six
decades. Because these records are so poor, it is hard to
know the number of legal, let alone illicit small arms in
Ghana, he said.
20. (SBU) The UNDP,s representative and a Small Arms
Commission member were also disappointed that the Baseline
Study revealed little about &industrial8 guns because of
its focus on local manufacturing. The UNDP representative
expressed the need for technical assistance in mapping gun
transit routes and conflicts in the country such as
chieftaincy disputes. He also expressed the need to improve
police capacity to handle these and other major public
security situations.
21. (U) Superintendent Nyarko highlighted the need for
logistical support (especially vehicles and A/V equipment) to
support the awareness-building efforts of the Commission. The
Ministry of Interior and UNDP are assisting in this regard.
22. (U) Sources expressed particular concern about youth
unemployment and about the potential for idle youth to fuel
conflict in armed crime or as proxies in local chieftaincy
disputes. Contacts bemoaned the lack of targeted policies
aimed at improving youth employment levels, especially among
young males.
--------------
COMMENT
--------------
23. (SBU) In the sub-region, trafficking in illicit weapons
remains a serious concern about which we have unreliable
data. While risk factors still remain and require GOG
monitoring, Ghana has taken a commendable preventive approach
to the small arms issue. During PDAS Ford,s visit, Ghanaian
interlocutors (government and non-governmental) underscored
concerns about small arms and light weapons.
24. (SBU) However, in a recent discussion with PolChief, the
Minister for National Security expressed less concern about
small arms than he did during PDAS Ford,s visit, insisting
it was &under control8 and that it is unrealistic to think
that all small arms could be eliminated. The Inspector
General of Police also told PolChief the problem was minor
and under control. More data collection will enhance our
understanding of the extent and impact of the small arms
issue in Ghana.
BRIDGEWATER
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
NSC FOR COURVILLE, JUSTICE FOR ICITAP AND OPDAT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL PGOV PHUM KCRM MOPS ASEC GH
SUBJECT: ILLEGAL SMALL ARMS IN GHANA
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Ghana has an estimated 150,000 illegal
arms. Most are crude locally made guns, but there is an
unknown quantity of arms trafficking from elsewhere in West
Africa. Ghana,s Small Arms Commission has worked with the
UNDP and civil society on the issue since 2003 through the
Ghana Small Arms Program. GOG efforts to combat the problem
are hindered by porous borders, lack of police capacity and
poor data collection. Corruption in smuggling and trafficking
is also a challenge. The UNDP is seeking technical assistance
to map the regional distribution, trafficking routes, and
manufacturing sites of illicit guns in Ghana and to provide
income alternatives to local blacksmiths producing illegal
weapons. While the presence of illicit small arms is not
currently a source of instability in Ghana, further study of
the issue would better inform our understanding and the
government,s preventive work to address the issue. End
Summary.
--------------
GHANA,S SMALL ARMS PROBLEMS
--------------
2. (U) A 2005 baseline study funded by the UNDP estimates
that there are a minimum of 125,000 illicit guns in Ghana.
This includes 50,000 industrial guns (trafficked from abroad,
leaked from the police, or guns with expired licenses) and
75,000 produced by local blacksmiths. (Note: While blacksmith
production is not illegal, many of these guns are
un-registered. End note.) The baseline study was not
statistically rigorous, but was based on field interviews and
estimations by researchers.
3. (U) Guns made by local blacksmiths cost as little as USD
3.30 each. Locally manufactured pistols are linked to
violent crime in Ghana. According to government reports and
the Africa Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR),assailants
use locally manufactured pistols in 60 percent of all
recorded armed robberies.
4. (U) Weaknesses in the Ghana Police Service (GPS)
contribute to the small arms problem. Citizens get frustrated
with the failures of the GPS and at times take the law into
their own hands with locally made guns.
--------------
TRANS-BORDER PROBLEMS
--------------
5. (SBU) More sophisticated weapons cross Ghana,s porous
borders, stemming from conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone
during the 1990s, or from the more recent conflict in Cote
d,Ivoire. During a recent visit by PDAS for Verification,
Compliance and Implementation (VCI) Chris Ford, Minister of
National Security Francis Poku said, &we concede that we
have porous borders that are hard to control. We are trying
to get the latest technology to improve monitoring of the
borders.8
6. (U) ASDR research fellow Emmanuel Sowatey identified
foreign sources fueling the sub-region,s arms supply, noting
that &former Soviet states in Eastern Europe have few
controls on their arms industry.8 The West African Action
Network on Small Arms (WAANSA) is working with the U.K. to
address the issue of arms controls in Europe.
7. (U) Sowatey told Poloff that there has been &gun
running8 in the northwest region of the country in the
tri-border area where Ghana meets Cote d,Ivoire and Burkina
Faso. He stated that demand for weapons had come from
rebel-held territory in the northern part of Cote d,Ivoire
and that &corrupt (Ghanaian) security agencies8 were a
major challenge.
8. (SBU) Superintendent of Police Francis Nyarko, the police
officer most involved in handling small arms issues,
similarly identified the problem of weapons smuggling from
Cote d,Ivoire. &People need money to buy food and therefore
they will smuggle,8 he said, adding that &Refugees are not
screened properly. There are no resources to screen them and
they can bring guns.8
9. (U) Nyarko and others highlighted the need for data
ACCRA 00001855 002 OF 003
collection. The UNDP is working on this with help from the
U.K., and seeks further assistance to map the regional
distribution of illicit gun trafficking and manufacturing in
Ghana.
--------------
MULTILATERAL SOLUTIONS
--------------
10. (U) On June 14, 2006 ECOWAS Heads of State and
Government met in Abuja, Nigeria to sign a &Convention on
Small Arms and Light Weapons, Their Ammunition and Other
Related Materials.8 The Convention replaces the 1998 ECOWAS
Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of
Light Weapons. The push for a sub-regional Convention emerged
from an initiative headed by the former Malian president. The
call to convert the voluntary moratorium into a binding
ECOWAS Convention came from a collective of civil society
groups linked through the West Africa Action Network on Small
Arms (WAANSA).
11. (U) The ECOWAS sub-regional approach is backed by the
UNDP,s ECOWAS Small Arms Program (ECOSAP),a USD 30 million
program that works to strengthen the capacity of the national
small arms commissions in ECOWAS member states and harmonize
their activities. ECOSAP is the successor to UNDP,s earlier
Program for Coordination and Assistance for Security and
Development (PCASED),which led to the establishment of small
arms commissions in 12 of the 15 ECOWAS member states.
12. (SBU) Afi Yakubu, a member of Ghana,s Small Arms
Commission and Associate Director of the Foundation for
Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA),told Emboff he
was disappointed with the recent Review Conference on the
Implementation of the 2001 UN Program of Action to Prevent,
Combat and Eradicate the illicit Trade in Small Arms and
Light Weapons. The Review Conference ended July 7 without
agreeing on an outcome document. Yakubu, who is also
Secretary of WAANSA, advocates an international legal
SIPDIS
instrument to combat the brokering of illicit arms. &You can
clean your house up well (in West Africa),but the flood
comes from outside,8 she stated.
--------------
GHANA,S DOMESTIC EFFORTS:
WORKING WITH THE UNDP
--------------
13. (U) The Ghanaian Small Arms Commission, created in 2001,
has been working with the UNDP since 2003. Local researchers
believe Ghana,s Commission is further along in implementing
the Convention than in other ECOWAS member states.
14. (U) The Ghana Small Arms Reduction and Conflict
Prevention program is a partnership between the Ministry of
Interior and the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms,
funded by the UNDP and other development partners (the UK is
the largest donor). The program began in 2003, with funding
for 2003-2005 totaling USD 480,000. Accomplishments of the
program include: a baseline survey of the illicit weapons
issue, initial implementation of a computerized firearms
registry, creation of an armed violence database that tracks
reports from Ghanaian news sources, and completion of a
public sensitization campaign on small arms.
15. (U) The Small Arms Commission has focused on public
outreach and the public destruction of illegal arms. The
Commission meets monthly and includes members from police,
military, Attorney General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Immigration service and the Customs service. Since 2001 the
Commission has destroyed 2,000 weapons. Awareness campaigns
are directed at youth in primary and secondary schools, and
include &Weapons Free Clubs8 created in two regions of the
country that have experienced ethnic disputes.
16. (U) Members of the Commission and the UNDP espouse the
benefits of the &arms for development8 approach to tackle
the issue of local production, focusing on creating economic
alternatives for the blacksmiths who produce un-registered
weapons. The Ashanti Regional Blacksmith Association assisted
police in the Ashanti Region to arrest arms producers. The
Small Arms Commission would like to repeat this success by
ACCRA 00001855 003 OF 003
taking the Ashanti Blacksmiths to help form collectives of
blacksmiths in each regional capital city.
--------------
GAPS
--------------
19. (SBU) A UNDP official identified the need for reliable
data as a significant gap in Ghana,s efforts to counter
small arms proliferation. He and one member of the Small Arms
Commission were unsatisfied with the work on the Baseline
Study, expressing that it lacked firm indications of which
parts of the country had the most significant small arms
issues. A police official echoed this concern, noting that
the GOG has run a manual paper gun registry for over six
decades. Because these records are so poor, it is hard to
know the number of legal, let alone illicit small arms in
Ghana, he said.
20. (SBU) The UNDP,s representative and a Small Arms
Commission member were also disappointed that the Baseline
Study revealed little about &industrial8 guns because of
its focus on local manufacturing. The UNDP representative
expressed the need for technical assistance in mapping gun
transit routes and conflicts in the country such as
chieftaincy disputes. He also expressed the need to improve
police capacity to handle these and other major public
security situations.
21. (U) Superintendent Nyarko highlighted the need for
logistical support (especially vehicles and A/V equipment) to
support the awareness-building efforts of the Commission. The
Ministry of Interior and UNDP are assisting in this regard.
22. (U) Sources expressed particular concern about youth
unemployment and about the potential for idle youth to fuel
conflict in armed crime or as proxies in local chieftaincy
disputes. Contacts bemoaned the lack of targeted policies
aimed at improving youth employment levels, especially among
young males.
--------------
COMMENT
--------------
23. (SBU) In the sub-region, trafficking in illicit weapons
remains a serious concern about which we have unreliable
data. While risk factors still remain and require GOG
monitoring, Ghana has taken a commendable preventive approach
to the small arms issue. During PDAS Ford,s visit, Ghanaian
interlocutors (government and non-governmental) underscored
concerns about small arms and light weapons.
24. (SBU) However, in a recent discussion with PolChief, the
Minister for National Security expressed less concern about
small arms than he did during PDAS Ford,s visit, insisting
it was &under control8 and that it is unrealistic to think
that all small arms could be eliminated. The Inspector
General of Police also told PolChief the problem was minor
and under control. More data collection will enhance our
understanding of the extent and impact of the small arms
issue in Ghana.
BRIDGEWATER