ECOWAS provides equipment and materials for stockpile management of arms and ammunition to Guinea
12 Feb, 2021| Conakry, 10 February 2021: The Resident Representative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to Guinea officially handed over arms and ammunition stockpile management equipment to the Guinean defence and security forces on Wednesday, 10 February 2021. This took place during a ceremony organised by the National Commission to combat the Proliferation and Illegal Circulation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (ComNat-ALPC), in the premises of the Battalion Headquarters Battalion, at Camp Almamy Samory Touré in Conakry.
The equipment was donated by ECOWAS through the Regional Project for Peace, Security and Stability, funded by the European Union on the one hand, and the NGO COGINTA, on the other, through its Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) project.
According to the Chairman of ComNat-ALPC, Major General Bambo Fofana, “the political sensitivity and technical complexity of arms and ammunition stockpile management requires the implementation of clearly identified actions and effective planning of activities. It is in response to these imperatives that ECOWAS has purchased materials and equipment, with the financial support of the European Union and the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the case of our country, the materials and equipment to be handed over today include: One (1) TOYOTA Land Cruiser 76 Hard Top Full vehicle, Nine (9) TVS HL×125 motorcycles, Nine (9) laptops, Seven (7) simple desks (1. 40m), Seven (7) office chairs, Fourteen (14) visitors’ chairs, Nine (9) Laser M 102 A printers, Nine (9) 1000 watt stabilizers, Five (5) reams of paper, One (1) server with AZERTY keyboard, Five (5) desktops, One (1) 1000 VA UPS inverter, five (5) rolls of network cable, Five (5) electrical extension boxes, Two (2) security camera systems, Four (4) manual pallets and One (1) hydraulic shearing machine”. For his part, the Chief of Staff to the Senior Minister in charge of Presidential Affairs, Minister of National Defence, Brigadier General Sidi Yaya Camara stated that, “the materials and equipment received partly address the difficulties encountered in the control of small arms and light weapons in the Republic of Guinea. I therefore call on the beneficiaries to make good use of them”.
On his part, Ambassador Mario Gomes Fernandes, ECOWAS Resident Representative to Guinea, recalled that, “the project, which is being implemented in seven ECOWAS Member States, aims to improve physical security and stockpile management of weapons in line with the ECOWAS roadmap. This flagship activity of supply of equipment and materials to Guinea will enable the country to meet the main challenges related to stockpile and ammunition management, namely: registration, data sharing, monitoring, tracing of weapons, handling and cutting of weapons”. The ECOWAS-EU project on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) launched by ECOWAS in 2015, is being implemented in seven (7) pilot countries including the four Member States of the Mano River Union (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire), two (2) Sahel countries (Mali and Niger) and Nigeria with funding from the European Union through the 10th EDF. . |
