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Chambas calls for check on
proliferation of small arms
Accra, Sept. 27, Ghanadot/GNA - Members of the ECOWAS Small
Arms Programme (ECOSAP) Advisory Board have been charged to
use their wealth of experience to define a vision to
overcome the challenges posed by proliferation of small arms
in the sub-region.
Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, President of the ECOWAS Commission,
was speaking in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday during the
inauguration of the ECOSAP Advisory Board.
In email message to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on
Thursday, Dr. Chambas recalled that proliferation of Small
Arms and Light Weapons in West Africa had adversely affected
development of the region.
This, he noted, that had denied West Africans good quality
life through the many and intense civil wars and armed
robbery.
The message was signed by Mr Oluwafisan Bankale, Policy,
Advocacy and Communication Officer ECOWAS Small Arms
Programme (ECOSAP) Small Arms Unit (SAU) of ECOWAS.
Dr Sola Ogunbanwo, a member of the ECOSAP Advisory Board,
thanked the Commission for selecting them to serve and
promised that they would do their best to ensure the success
of the programme.
He recalled that the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and
Light Weapons, their Ammunition and Related Materials has
been accepted as pace-setter in the war against small arms
even within the global UN system.
The ECOSAP Advisory Board is composed of eminent
personalities from the West African sub-region and beyond.
It has, as part of its mandate, to assist with advocacy,
developing strategic partnerships, resource mobilization and
establishing an international network for the programme.
The Advisory Board will also serve to provide the vision on
how the small arms problem in the sub-region can be
effectively tackled.
The members of the Board who were present were Mr Kouadio
Adjoumani (Cote d’Ivoire), Dr Christine Agboton-Johnson
(Senegal), Mr Michael Hasenau (Germany), Lt. Gen Seth Obeng
(Ghana) and Dr Sola Ogunbanwo (Nigeria). Dr Ogunbanwo was
elected by members as chairman of the Board.
Ms Merete Lundemo (Norway) and Dr Keith Krause (Canada) were
not able to attend.
ECOSAP was launched in June 2006 as a five-year
capacity-building programme aimed at strengthening the
capacity of National Commissions, ECOWAS Small Arms Division
and Civil Society Organisations in the war against
proliferation of small arms in West Africa.
The programme is based in Bamako, Mali.
GNA
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