By Mabinty M. Kamara
Seven experts from the United Nations Institute of Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) are currently in the country on an arms and ammunition assessment mission.
The purpose of the assessment, according to officials, is to ensure the security of the state by ensuring the effective management of arms and ammunitions.
Colonel Mohammed Musa Hashim, head of Logistics at the Republic of Sierra Leone Arm Forces (RSALF), told Politico that the mission will discuss international standards of weapons and ammunitions management with the primary forces of RSLAF, Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and civil society organisations, including manufacturers of weapons.
In attendance at the four-day session ongoing at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel in Freetown are representatives of the National Commission on Small Arms (SLeNSA), RSLAF, SLP, International Security Advisory Team (ISAT), Office of National Security (ONS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mines Monitoring Group (
Colonel Hashim explained that the assessment involves visits to the Joint logistics Unit at Murray Town and at Benguima Military Barracks in the Western Area Rural where arms and ammunitions are kept. He said there are long term plans of relocating the Joint Logistics Unit at Murray Town as part of recommendations already made by the visiting team. Hashim said this became a necessity given the current population density in the Murray Town community. According to him, the arsenal at Murray Town include explosives.
“If they explode today it will cause whole lots of destructions in that place, because at the time they were constructing those places, there were not many people around,” he said.
Hashim went on to say that the assessment is timely and very relevant as it will ensure the safe handling of weapons and ensure that people who are in possession of arms and ammunitions use them responsibly.
According to Hashim, the assessment will further look at ways to trace a gun when it gets missing.
“Every citizen in this country that is of sound mind has a right to be given weapon upon demand for his personal security. So if stringent management mechanisms are not in place, it will cause a great threat to the security of the state,” he said.
The two main institutions that handle and manage arms and ammunition in the country are RSLAF and the Operations Support Division (OSD) of the SLP. Hashim said members of these institutions are being interviewed by the experts on how they manage and keep their weapons and, thereafter, the experts will give advice and try to restructure where there are lapses.
The session is expected to end today.
© 2019 Politico Online
