|
Security seizes arms in West Nile
By Conan Businge
A MASSIVE cache of illegal arms has been seized by security agencies in the West Nile region, in the past fortnight.
With the accumulation of illegal arms in the West Nile, following the 20-year-old LRA war and other armed conflicts in the neighbouring region’s neighbouring countries, the security agencies swung into action early this month, to halt it.
The operation by security and intelligence services and local people, followed an arrest of a suspected arms trafficker in Arua town, in February.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UFDF) public relations officer in West Nile, Capt. Godfrey Kamara, said the accumulation of arms “followed the continued armed conflicts in Uganda, DR Congo and Southern Sudan”.
He added: “The borders of Uganda in this region are also porous. We have had these guns in the community for years. The situation was worsened by the arms trafficking in the region.”
The suspect arrested on February 28, is still being held by security, as investigations proceed.
The arms that were seized on two different operations on March 5 and 10, in the villages of Acholi, Kisumu and Alelinija; included 20 AK-47 rifles, three G-2 guns, 67 sub-machine gun magazines (16 full) and 2,313 loose sub-machine guns.
The ammunition, most of it small arms and light weapons (SALW), is believed to have been trafficked through the arms’ corridor linking South Sudan and the DR Congo. The other weapons seized included shells, fuses and pipes of rocket propelled grenades, 478 tortoise hand grenades, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, together with 50 fuses and other military equipment
This operation is the second major one this year. Early this year in February, the UPDF arrested 22 suspects in connection with the illegal sale of arms and ammunition in the Mt. Elgon area of eastern Uganda. The UPDF Third Division Intelligence officer, Captain Bob Ogiki, said that six guns with over 1,600 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the traffickers.
In a statement from the UPDF yesterday, the army spokesperson Paddy Ankunda warned the public against arms trafficking, and for those involved, to voluntarily surrender their weapons.
Kamara also vowed that the security agencies were committed to halting arms trafficking in the region and arresting all culprits, that will fail to volunteer their arms to the Government.
Uganda is in the corridor of the small arms trafficking zone, including Somalia, Angola, Sudan and DRC.
Other areas that have been involved in the illegal arms trade in Uganda are Kuru Sub-county in Yumbe District and Genya Parish in West Nile, and Karamoja.
In January this year, security chiefs from the governments of Uganda and South Sudan started discussions aimed at ending the persistent arms trafficking in the region.
The Minister of State for Defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, said the meeting resolved to, besides monitoring the major routes for arms trafficking, lay down strategies that will involve the local leadership in the struggle to end arms trafficking in the East African cattle corridor. The continued seizure of arms indicates that there is still a massive illegal arms trade in the region, which needs more attention.
Published on: Saturday, 15th March, 2008
|
