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Kenya calls for strict laws to curb proliferation of illicit small arms |
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08:33, August 11, 2007 |
Kenyan authorities on Friday called for tougher laws to curb the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in the region.
Kenya''s Director of Police Operations David Kimaiyo said the spread and misuse of these deadly weapons pose serious threats to peace, security and stability and carry a wide range of humanitarian and socio-economic consequences.
Kimaiyo said Kenya, which is an oasis of peace in the region, has suffered greatly from an astronomical proliferation of illicit weapons even with enhanced surveillance along its borders with neighboring countries ravaged by civil wars and strife.
"There are some protocol and action plans and there is international assistance, but harsher laws need to be billed," Kimaiyo said at the opening of a small arms exhibition dubbed Crush the Illicit Trade in Small Arms at the UN headquarters in Nairobi.
"The current surge of firearms related criminal incidences lend credence to the view that the law as it stands, does not address adequately the issue of firearms and ammunition and therefore strongly cries out for further amendment of the Firearms Act to reflect obtaining realities," he said.
Kimaiyo said it was for this reason that Kenya has submitted its comments to the United Nations on the visibility and draft parameters for arms trend treaty.
Kenya''s assistant minister for Internal Security Peter Munya said the number of illicit small arms and light weapons had declined in the country because of education of conflicts in neighboring countries.
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