Kenya destroys another 7,000 illicit small arms

NAIROBI (AFP) May 19, 2003
Kenyan authorities on Monday destroyed another 7,000 guns recovered by police from criminals over several decades in an ongoing effort to rid the country of illicit small arms.

"We have not escaped the problem of illicit arms that have created a high levels of insecurity in our country," said junior National Security Minister Stephen Tarus.

The first batch of 1,000 illicit guns were destroyed in March.

David Kimayu, director of operations in the Kenyan police, said thousands of other illicit guns were still in police stores awaiting destruction.

The arms destruction is in line with an agreement reached in 2000 by states in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region binding them to work together to stop the proliferation of illegal small arms.

Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda are party to the agreement.

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