Gabon and Soa Tome and Principe took part in the training of trainers workshop to the Central African Convention for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, their Ammunition, Parts and Components that can be used for their Manufacture, Repair or Assembly also known as the Kinshasa Convention, organized by the Ministry of External Relations (MINREX) and Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace (CAMYOSFOP), 2nd July 2021, in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
This workshop brought together representatives from ECCAS Member States on the use of the MOSAIC Modules on the implementation of the Kinshasa Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons and on the use of the MOSAIC for the creation of NATCOMS, elaboration of NAPS and the SALW nature of women and youth. It aims at facilitating the creation of a national commission on the control of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and elaboration of a national action plan on SALW.
Highlighting the relevance of this regional workshop Dr Richard Fung representative of UNODA “We are mainly focusing on Gabon and Soa Tome and Principe where the national workshops could not be organized for various reasons. The UN has instruments which we call Modular Small Arms Implementation Compendium-MOSAIC.” The tools he stated are a set of states and other actors including Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) to setup mechanisms and also to improve on their skills in this area.
ECCAS through its representative, Missak Kasongo .M the body at this level is working with partners like UN, CAMYOSFOP to encourage them to put in place their national commissions and also to initiate the preparation of national strategy to control SALW. ECCAS, through its regional coordinator, presented the integrative approach of UNODA and reiterated their support through technical assistance to the Member States as well as its cooperation with ECCAS.
Kinshasa Convention on Arms Control was adopted in 2010. The 7 Member States to Kinshasa Convention on SALW are: Angola, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea and Rwanda.
The outcome of the workshop was productive as member states acknowledged the efforts of CAMYOSFOP and the Cameroon Government. CAMYOSFOP for the past years has been working on SALW and have greatly contributed to the fight against the illicit proliferation and circulation of arms in Central Africa and particularly in Cameroon. This has been with the support of MINREX, UNODA and other international partners. In 2019 there was the training of Experts on the MOSAIC Toolkit on the Kinshasa Convention on SALW.