ABSTRACT

The vast supply of light military arms can indeed encourage the resort to warfare; furthermore, the easy availability of arms lengthens both the duration and lethality of wars. Regional initiatives in Latin America and West Africa have also made gains in the past year. In late October 1998, the Declaration of a Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Small Arms and Light Weapons in West Africa was adopted and signed in Abuja by the Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States. No one currently knows with any precision how widely small arms have proliferated. Estimates range from 100 to 500 million military-style weapons in circulation, in addition to hundreds of millions more designed for police. The wide range points to the lack of available data: small arms and light weapons are rarely reported in official statistics on the arms trade, are impossible to quantify independently, and are often manufactured and transferred covertly.