Small Arms Controland Disposal:

Research, Consultancy& Support

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Recycled from earlier conflicts or newlyimported, small arms are tools of powerand violence which can cause social strife to

turn into far more destructive conflict. Most of thework of the Bonn International Center for Conversion(BICC) is connected to small arms in some way orother, but BICC also carries out projects which relatedirectly to small arms. These first two pages give anoverview of the different dimensions of BICC’s workin this area.

Research. BICC studies all aspects of proliferation,collection and destruction of small arms and lightweapons. With financial assistance from the USInstitute for Peace and from the Ford Foundation, forexample, BICC recently produced Managing theRemnants of War. This book provides an overview ofarms collection and destruction programs.

Capacity-building. Building local capacity to control,collect and destroy guns is essential to solving thesmall arms problem. BICC helps to empower peoplein regions affected by small arms and light weaponsthrough two of its projects: while BICC’s Help Deskfor Practical Disarmament supports local initiatives byproviding practical advice, its SALIGAD projectsupports research and the development of localsolutions to small arms problems in the Horn ofAfrica, working with non-governmental organizationsand different levels of government. Both projects aredescribed in greater detail in the following pages.

Consultancy. Drawing on a network of expertswithin and outside BICC, the Center offers policyguidance on small arms issues. It has provided its non-profit consultancy services to a wide range of clientsin many parts of the world, including the UnitedNations, the European Union, national governments,development agencies, and non-governmentalorganizations. In a recent project for GermanTechnical Cooperation (GTZ), BICC produced threepolicy studies relevant to small arms issues, includingone on small arms and development.

Project Management and Evaluation. BICCmanages and evaluates projects in the fields ofdemobilization and disarmament. Recent partnersinclude the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), the UN Department of DisarmamentAffairs, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) andBrot für die Welt, a major German developmentagency.

BICC’s Work on Small Arms:An Overview

Attitudes to guns, and how they link to other aspects ofsociety, are important to understand. When asked why hewas interested in guns, a young man in Sierra Leone replied:“Because when I carry a weapon, I am treated like a man.When I go into my village unarmed, people treat me like anobody.” Asked whether anything else would have the sameeffect, he replied that a mobile phone would lend him similarstatus.

Flame of Peace: A bonfire of small arms in Mali. Robert Poulton

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Forum for Debate. While BICC is neither a fundingnor an advocacy organization, it provides support toindividuals and organizations lobbying fordisarmament. In cooperation with other NGOs, BICChosts workshops and conferences, bringing togetherpolicymakers, researchers and non-governmentalorganizations from all parts of the world fordiscussions on issues related to arms control anddisarmament.

Information. BICC provides information on smallarms issues to specialists and the public. The Centerpublishes books, reports and conference papers andmaintains a research library. A publicly accessibledatabase stores media reports on transfers of surplusweapons and is available at www.disarmament.de.

SALIGAD researcher Sabala Kizito holding a gun smuggled toKenya from Ethiopia. Christina Yeung (BICC)

When people are offered a reward for giving up weapons, itcan cause problems. It may stimulate gun sales and angerthose who have nothing to surrender. Besnik Alibali takesa different approach. Once an explosives specialist in theAlbanian army, Alibali now runs a weapons collection pro-gram in the port of Dürres. He tells people: “If you haveweapons, you have a problem, my friends. Your childrenmay get hurt. The police may come to arrest you. Just tellme, and I will come to take the weaponry away. Safely anddiscreetly. And you will have one thing less to worry about.”

Contents

BICC’s Work on Small Arms:An Overview

The Help Desk for PracticalDisarmament

The SALIGAD Project: SmallArms in the Horn of Africa

Small Arms in Northern Ireland

Demobilization, Rehabilitation—and Small Arms

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Around the world, in societies torn by waror plagued by violent crime, people aretrying to remove the tools of violence from

society. They are making progress, suffering setbacks,learning from both, and building a body of experience.In 2000, BICC established a small unit to be ofassistance to them.

Research. The Help Desk for Practical Disarmamentstudies weapons collection programs in Africa, theAmericas, Europe and Australasia. Its book Managingthe Remnants of War tries to identify elements of ‘bestpractice’ in post-war disarmament.

Tools. The Help Desk provides tools for hands-onwork, such as its practical guide Tackling Small Armsand Light Weapons. This guide for collection anddestruction, compiled together with the Program onSecurity and Development (SAND) in Monterey,California, is available in English, French, Spanish,

The Help Desk forPractical Disarmament

Portuguese and Russian at the web site of the HelpDesk. Here visitors can also consult a database onsurplus weapons and order publications such as DavidDeClerq’s Destroying Small Arms and Light Weapons(BICC Report 13).

Training. The Help Desk is involved in thedevelopment of a curriculum in small arms control forsecurity sector personnel in West Africa. Its practicalguide is used in the training of Canadian policeofficers.

Consultancy. Several kinds of organizations havesought the advice of the Help Desk, including theUN, the European Commission, the government ofNorway and other states, the German developmentagency GTZ, and grassroots groups in Cambodia,Nigeria and Germany.

A market in Yemen. Jörn Brömmelhörster (IMEP)

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Moving to peace in Cambodia. Natalie Pauwels (BICC)

Program Evaluation. The Help Desk led the interna-tional mission evaluating the Weapons in Exchange forDevelopment Pilot Programme in Gramsh, Albania, aUNDP/UNOPS project. It is developing proposalsfor similar projects in Africa and Australasia.

Finances. While the Help Desk engages in paidassignments, it provides most of its services for free—but it needs financial support to be able to continue todo so. The Help Desk cannot finance disarmamentprojects itself but, if necessary, can join stakeholdersin raising funds.

Contacts. You can reach the Help Deskfor Practical Disarmament at

helpdesk@bicc.de or Sami Faltas atfaltas@bicc.de, phone +49-228-91196-35.

More information is also available atwww.disarmament.de.

Weapons collected in Albania. Sami Faltas (BICC)

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Approach. Without understanding whypeople want arms, it is difficult to knowhow to address the problem. This is the

starting point of BICC’s SALIGAD project. In themidst of conflict and failing social and politicalstructures, people in the Horn of Africa are turning tosmall arms for protection. SALIGAD supportsindigenous capacity to analyze the demand side of thesmall arms equation in the Horn. Such analysis assistsin the development of relevant policies and optionsfor controlling and managing small arms—optionswithin the reach of the people suffering from theviolence. SALIGAD’s work is complementary toinitiatives to control supply and restrict access to smallarms and light weapons.

“As far as we are concerned, controlling small arms wouldbe a minor issue, if we were given the means to do it. Thereare many among us who are as well versed in the issues as anOxford graduate. We are experts on how to deal with smallarms within the community. I have personally and single-handedly convinced a number of ‘bandits’ in our district tosurrender their arms. But if they cannot re-stock their lostanimals, if they cannot maintain their families, they will goback to banditry.”

Ali Ethiopia, Chair of the Abdwak Clan,Nairobi conference, December 2000

Partners. SALIGAD is funded by the Germangovernment through the German TechnicalCooperation agency (GTZ) and Brot für die Welt, amajor German development agency. The project is ledby BICC and implemented in cooperation with theInternational Resource Group on Disarmament andSecurity in the Horn of Africa (IRG).

Goals. The project facilitates dialogue and buildscapacity for peace in the IGAD countries. Morespecifically, it:

Offers a forum for discussion among developmentworkers, policy-makers and researchers

Generates policy options at all levels

Builds capacity by directly supporting researchersfrom the region.

The SALIGAD Project:Small Arms in

the Horn of Africa

IGAD (Inter Governmental Authority for Development)member states

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The Bamako Declaration

In late 2000, the Organization of African Unitymet in Bamako, Mali to develop an AfricanCommon Position in preparation for the July 2001United Nations Conference on small arms and lightweapons. In the resulting Bamako Declaration,African States called for measures to foster a cultureof peace, improve conflict management practices,harmonize legislation on small arms, and encouragedevelopment and stability.

Activities. SALIGAD’s work takes place on threelevels:

Field research and data collection by localresearchers. In Kenya, SALIGAD currently hasthree studies underway: one on indigenous armscontrol in the Kuria region; another on gun-relatedviolence in Nairobi; and a third monitoring gunprices and demand in Garissa. Research inSomaliland focuses on the process of getting theguns off the street. In Ethiopia, a study in theregional state of Gambella is examining thetrafficking of small arms in relation to a territorialconflict between the Anyuak and the Nuer. Anexploratory study of small arms is underway in theGashbarka region of Eritrea.

Dialogue among governments, NGOs andgrassroots. Together with IRG, BICC held a majorconference in Addis Ababa in April 2001 involvinggovernment representatives, NGOs andresearchers from the Horn, Europe and NorthAmerica. Late in the previous year, BICC, ProjectPloughshares, and the Quaker UN Office co-sponsored a conference in Nairobi on localinitiatives to reduce demand for small arms. Suchactivities are meant to draw more attention todemand issues, which remain relatively neglected.

Training and raising the awareness ofcommunity leaders. In June 2000, together withthe Pastoralists’ Peace and Development Initiativeand OXFAM, SALIGAD co-hosted a communityworkshop in Garissa, Kenya on the proliferationand effects of small arms in the area. Communityleaders worked on developing ideas to limitproliferation in their areas.

Contacts. More information canbe found at www.saligad.org.

BICC contacts for SALIGAD areRenée Ernst at ernst@bicc.de and

Kiflemariam Gebrewold at gebre@bicc.de.

A member of an Eritrean women’s organization with herkalashnikov. Boness/epd-bild.

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Small Arms inNorthern Ireland

Stumbling blocks to peace. Tools of politicalbargaining; symbols of ‘macho’ power; a dangerin the hands of dissidents; tools of violence,

blackmail and organized crime—these are just a fewof the roles small arms continue to play in NorthernIreland three years after the peace accord. The peaceaccord included commitments from all parties todisarm within a set period. But—reflecting a deeperdivision among the major parties—decommissioningof weapons became the major political stumblingblock in the peace process.

Moving forward. Moving beyond this impasse first ofall meant addressing mindsets and buildingconfidence. In summer 2000, the IRA made aunilateral gesture of agreeing to inspections of theirarsenals. They announced a process to put their armscompletely and verifiable beyond use. Since then,

attempts to find a compromise have tieddecommissioning to the broader issue of securitysector reform. Security sector reform includesdownsizing state forces and security installations and,importantly, creating a new police force in NorthernIreland. A workable definition of and techniques fordecommissioning have still to be found.

BICC’s Project. BICC is carrying out a two-year casestudy in cooperation with the Initiative on ConflictResolution and Ethnicity (INCORE), NorthernIreland. The project looks at how demilitarization cansupport peace and prevent further violence. Smallarms are not the main focus, but are an importantelement of the study. Trying to find lessons that canbe applied elsewhere, the project examines suchissues as:

The interdependent processes of disarmament and‘normalizing’ security

The role of the peace agreement in disarmament

The role of external actors, such as theIndependent International Commission onDecommissioning (IICD)

How the availability of arms affects political orcriminal violence

The historical and cultural aspects of small arms inIreland.

Use of small arms in a sectarian political message. CorinnaHauswedell (BICC)

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Contacts. More information can be found at www.bicc.de or by contacting

Corinna Hauswedell at ch@bicc.de.

A mural in Belfast makes the point that decommissioning is linked to security concerns. From the Irish MuralMillenium Calendar, 2000

‘‘All participants accordingly reaffirm their commitment tothe total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations.They also confirm their intention to continue to workconstructively and in good faith with the IndependentCommission, and to use any influence they may have, toachieve the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms withintwo years following endorsement in referendums North andSouth of the agreement and in the context of theimplementation of the overall settlement.’’

(from the Good Friday Agreement, April 1998)

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Risks and opportunities

Demobilization of soldiers is closely linked to thesmall arms issue. Former combatants return tocommunities where they may be seen as a threat andcommunities may not be able to offer them anadequate livelihood. Moreover, some ex-fighters mayfind it difficult to return to civilian life after havinglived by the gun for many years. The demobilizationprocess must plan for these risks. If not, the presenceof ex-combatants may feed social tensions andattitudes which lead to the use of small arms.

Demobilization is also a point at which small arms can‘leak’ into society. The best way of preventing thisfrom happening differs from case to case. It dependsvery much on the reason for the demobilization—onwhether it follows the defeat of one party, a peaceagreement, or a decision to downsize an existing army.

In several post-war demobilization exercises in Africaand Central America in the 90s, large numbers ofweapons—and ammunition—ended up in the handsof unauthorized people. Disarming soldiers andguerrilla fighters is especially difficult if many ownseveral weapons: even if one weapon is turned in,others might be retained. Large stocks might gounreported if the parties are not sure that the peacewill hold. Arms may also be seen as a source of futureincome.

In Europe, very large numbers of soldiers weredemobilized during the 90s. However their weaponswere not always safely stored or destroyed. Throughlegal or illegal channels, many have ended up in warzones.

Demobilization,Rehabilitation—and

Small ArmsHowever disarmament of former combatants isnot always so difficult. In the case of demobili-zation in Uganda, for example, the weaponsremained in the barracks when the soldiers movedto the demobilization centers. And in the Eritreandemobilization in the mid-90s, records of allweapons issued by the liberation forces wereavailable, facilitating recall.

Demobilization in Kosovo

In the first half of 2001, BICC conducted researchon demilitarization and reintegration of formerKLA combatants in Kosovo. Based on interviewswith former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rankand file, former KLA commanders, and officersfrom Kosovo Forces (KFOR), UN Mission inKosovo (UNMIK), and international organizationsactive in Kosovo, the project seeks lessons foreffective management of post-war demobilization.In this context, the study looks at weaponscollection, attempts to transform the KLA into theKosovo Police Service and Kosovo ProtectionCorps, and at the vocational training offered toparamilitaries. Comparing the Kosovo experienceto post-Dayton Bosnia, the study is geared todeveloping guidelines for international organi-zations.

Contacts. Andreas Heinemann-Grüderat hg@bicc.de or Wolf-Christian Paes

at paes@bicc.de.

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“Sudanese children interviewed in a camp for internallydisplaced people in 1997 thought that the AK-47 was atool for security, power and recognition. They said that peoplewere taken seriously if they were in an army and that theyreceived respect for having been to the front. They told astory of one of their friends who had received military trainingunder the SPLA. With a child’s curiosity, he decided tohold the trigger and look down the barrel to find out how itworked. As simply as that he shot himself.”

Lomumba Eman, field researcher

BICC’s demobilization work

BICC has undertaken many projects analyzing andoffering advice on post-war demobilization,resettlement and reintegration of ex-combatants. Mosthave been relevant to the control of small arms andlight weapons.

Over the years, BICC has established cooperative tieswith a large number of researchers and several local,regional and international organizations. While BICC’sprimary focus in demobilization has been on Africa,BICC’s advice has also been sought on the design,implementation and evaluation of demobilization andreintegration programs in other regions as well. BICChas advised multilateral and bilateral developmentagencies on their operations and monitoringmechanisms for demobilization and reintegration.

BICC also assists in capacity-building in this area. Forexample, it has worked for many years with the Groupfor Environmental Monitoring in Johannesburg toraise the level of discussion on disarmament andconversion issues in South African civil society.

Guns collected in Albania, September 2000. Sami Faltas (BICC)

A major BICC study assessed the broad impact of thedemobilization and reintegration processes in Eritrea,Ethiopia and Mozambique. Jointly with the Centre forConflict Resolution in Cape Town, BICC has alsocoordinated a large, collaborative research project onthe links between demilitarization and peace-buildingin Southern Africa. The results support efforts tocontrol small arms.

Contacts. BICC’s demobilization studies can beaccessed through www.bicc.de or by

contacting Kees Kingma at kingma@bicc.de.

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The Bonn International

Center for Conversion (BICC)

an independent non-profit organization dedicatedto promoting the transfer of former military

resources and assets to alternative civilian purposes

The transfer of resources from the military tothe civilian sector represents both a social andan economic challenge, as well as offering an

opportunity for the states concerned. The sustainedprocess of disarmament during the decade followingthe end of the Cold War has made defense conversionan important issue in many countries today. Thisprocess has now slowed down considerably, but theproblems faced by those affected are far from solved.BICC’s main objective is to make use of the chancesoffered by disarmament, whilst at the same timehelping to avoid—or lessen—the negative effects.

This issue concerns a number of areas: What canscientists and engineers who were formerly employedin weapons labs do today? What is the fate of theroughly eight million employees who lost their jobs inthe defense factories? Why are so many defensecompanies faring better today than they did ten yearsago? Will all demobilized soldiers or formercombatants find a future in civilian society? Whataction must communities take when suddenly facedwith the closure of a huge military base? How doesone solve the problem of the ready availability ofsmall arms and light weapons?

It is BICC’s task to tackle these questions, to analyzethem on the basis of scientific research, to convey thenecessary information, and to give advice to thoseinvolved—in short, to manage disarmament.

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BICC’s Program Areas—Investing in the FutureInternational think tank. BICC conducts research

and makes policy recommendations. In-house andexternal experts contribute comparative analyses andbackground studies.

Project management and consulting services.BICC provides practical support to public and

private organizations. For instance, BICC staff adviselocal governments confronted with the difficult taskof redeveloping former military installations. BICCalso combines development assistance with practicalconversion work by helping in the fields ofdemobilization, reintegration and peace-building.

Clearinghouse. In its capacity as an independentorganization, BICC supports and assists interna-

tional organizations, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, companies and the media,as well as individuals. It hereby mediates and facilitatesthe conversion process at all levels—local, nationaland global. BICC collects and disseminates data andinformation on conversion to practitioners in a widerange of fields and institutions. BICC strives to reachresearchers and practitioners as well asparliamentarians, the media, and the general public bymeans of a variety of tools including its library, itsextensive on-line documentation services and itsinternet service (www.bicc.de). Furthermore, theCenter documents the course of disarmament andconversion in its annual conversion surveys and producesa variety of publications.

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BICC Publications on SmallArms and Light Weapons

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Information on all publications (e.g. full text of briefs and papers, detailed list of contents, how to order andpress information) can be obtained via BICC’s Internet service at www.bicc.de.

For further questions or feedback, please contact the PR & Documentation Department at pr@bicc.de

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Published by© BICC, Bonn 2001Bonn International Center for ConversionDirector: Dr. Herbert WulfPublishing management: Michael DedekLayout: Svenja BendsAn der Elisabethkirche 25D-53113 BonnGermanyPhone +49-228-911960Fax +49-228-241215E-mail: bicc@bicc.deInternet: www.bicc.de

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