THIRD MEETING OF FOCAL POINTS OF COORDINATING ACTION ON SMALL ARMS (CASA) MECHANISM CONCLUDES AT HEADQUARTERS

4 March 1999

Press Release
DC/2631

THIRD MEETING OF FOCAL POINTS OF COORDINATING ACTION ON SMALL ARMS (CASA) MECHANISM CONCLUDES AT HEADQUARTERS

19990304 United Nations Weapons Collection Project in Albania, Operation Rachel, Reference Group On Small Arms Highlighted during Deliberations

NEW YORK, 1 March (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- Representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Permanent Mission of South Africa and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) briefed the members of the Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA) mechanism during its third meeting of focal points. The CASA was established as a result of the Secretary-General's decision in June 1998 to designate the Department for Disarmament Affairs as the focal point to coordinate all action on small arms within the United Nations system.

Jan Walhberg, UNDP Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator in Albania, made a presentation on the implementation of the Gramsh Pilot Project (GPP) in Albania, a joint undertaking by the Department for Disarmament Affairs and the UNDP. Jean DuPreez, Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of South Africa, briefed participants on Operation Rachel, the joint operation between the police services of Mozambique and South Africa to combat cross- border smuggling of arms, ammunition and explosives. Hansjoerg Strohmeyer, Humanitarian Affairs Officer of the Policy Development and Advocacy Branch, OCHA, updated CASA members on the activities of the Reference Group on Small Arms, which was recently established to develop a coordinated approach among members of the humanitarian community on the specific humanitarian implications of small arms.

Mr. Walhberg provided an overview of the GPP which had been proposed by a United Nations evaluation mission led by the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, following his visit to Albania in June 1998 at the request of the Secretary-General, who had been approached by the President of Albania for assistance in weapons collection from the civilian population. The GPP is a "weapons for development" pilot project in which small arms and ammunition are exchanged for community development incentives such as roads and school facilities.

Mr. Walhberg noted that to date the weapons collection phase of the operation had achieved results which had exceeded original expectations. From 26 January to 23 February, collections in three of the nine communes in the

Gramsh district had resulted in the handing over of some 1,600 weapons and 36 tonnes of ammunition. He added that the weapons collected were reportedly of very good quality. He maintained that, while he expected the pilot project in Gramsh to be successful, economic development incentives were "not cheap" and additional donors were welcome. It was hoped that the weapons collection phase would be completed in April or May.

On Operation Rachel, Mr. DuPreez of the South African Mission reported that since 1995 the Governments of Mozambique and South Africa had embarked upon joint search-and-destroy operations which were funded by the South African Government and based on the gathering of intelligence information to locate arms caches within Mozambique. Rachel operations I-IV had resulted in the destruction of approximately 450 tonnes of arms and ammunition, including over 11,000 submachine guns, over 1,400 rockets and mortar launchers, more than 14,000 mortar bombs, over 3.3 million rounds of ammunition and more than 6,200 anti-personnel landmines. Some of the video taken of the destruction operations was being made available to the Department of Public Information (DPI) for its UNTV documentary on small arms.

Mr. DuPreez pointed out that since the Rachel operations were costly -- Rachel IV, which collected over 100 tonnes of arms and ammunition, had cost over $250,000 in heavy-duty transport, air support, explosives and other provisions -- the police services of both Governments were experiencing difficulties. Future operations were necessary, however, as some 120 uncontrolled arms caches in Mozambique had already been located. Mr. DuPreez noted that a bilateral appeal was being made for some $250,000, the bulk of which was for fuel for vehicles and explosives.

In a related initiative, Mr. DuPreez announced that as a result of the Secretary-General's call in his August 1997 report on small arms (document A/52/298), the South African Government had decided to destroy all surplus small arms in its possession rather than sell them. The report had recommended that States should exercise restraint with respect to the transfer of the surplus of small arms and light weapons manufactured solely for the possession of, and use by, the military and police forces; and that States should consider the possibility of destroying all surplus small arms. He drew attention to the Secretary-General's letter of 23 February welcoming the Government's decision and expressing the view that South Africa's unilateral initiative of destroying all surplus small arms would certainly serve as a valuable example for other nations to follow.

On the Reference Group on Small Arms (RGSA), Mr. Strohmeyer recalled that the Group had been established at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Working Group in November 1998 to look into the question of "hard data" illustrating the humanitarian effects of the widespread availability of small arms. The RGSA aims at developing a coordinated approach among IASC members on the specific humanitarian implications of small arms and light weapons

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in societies in or at risk of conflict. The goal is to develop an index of indicators and a methodology to assist humanitarian agencies in identifying data that is already available to them and that is relevant for the development of subsequent case studies on the humanitarian impact of small arms. Mr. Strohmeyer announced that the next meeting of the RGSA was scheduled to be held on 18 March in New York.

Representatives of the Department for Disarmament Affairs, the OCHA, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the DPI, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UNDP, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) participated in the meeting.

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