OAU URGES CONFERENCE TO TAKE AFRICAN COMMON POSITION OF SMALL ARMS PROLIFERATION INTO CONSIDERATION
Press Release DC/2793 |
United Nations Conference on the
Illicit Trade in Small Arms
9th Meeting (AM)
OAU URGES CONFERENCE TO TAKE AFRICAN COMMON POSITION
OF SMALL ARMS PROLIFERATION INTO CONSIDERATION
Delegates Also Approve Report of Conference Credentials Committee
The Organization of African Unity (OAU) urged the international community to take into consideration the African Common Position on the proliferation of light weapons and on the ways of ensuring more effective arms control on the continent, Said Djinnit, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the OAU, told the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects this morning.
Conveying a message from the thirty-seventh ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU, held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 9 to
11 July, Mr. Djinnit said the OAU reaffirmed its commitment to the “balanced, integrated, and consensual” African Common Position formulated by the OAU Ministerial Conference on the Illicit Proliferation, Circulation and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Africa, held in Bamako from 27 November to
1 December 2000.
According to the message, the OAU appealed to the international community to provide all necessary financial and technical assistance for the implementation of an international programme of action to be adopted by the Conference which is “precise, realistic and implementable, focusing on prevention of illicit trafficking, strengthening export control measures, reducing arms surpluses and monitoring existing stocks”. Such assistance should be rendered with the effective participation of African civil society and African regional initiatives and programmes.
The OAU also appealed for the establishment of a close and long-term international partnership between the OAU, the United Nations and the international community as a whole for the eradication of this phenomenon from the African continent.
Also this morning, the Conference decided to approve the report of its Credentials Committee, as contained in document A/CONF.192/12.
The representative of Egypt stated that with regard to the credentials of Israel, he understood them to represent the international frontiers as they were before June 1967. Those frontiers did not include the territories occupied after that date.
The Conference will meet again at a time and date to be announced in the Journal.