TANZANIA: Focus on small arms impact and control NAIROBI, 29 May (IRIN) - A multi-agency survey of the impact of small arms in Tanzania, conducted in conjunction with the government in Dar es Salaam, has found that firearms are having a negative, though limited, impact on Tanzania and that there is widespread support for tightening controls on them. On the whole, respondents had "very little direct experience of armed conflict" and "almost none have ever been forced to move due to armed conflict", according to a report of the survey findings, entitled "The Impact of Small Arms in Tanzania". The intention of the report is "to provide information for the development and targeting of initiatives to redress firearm dependency", according to the report, published by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa, to inform and enhance the security debate in Africa. The survey was undertaken in partnership by the Tanzanian government, the British-based NGO Saferworld, the Nairobi-based Security Research and Information Centre (SRIC) and the ISS. The Tanzanian envoy, Daudi N Mwakawago, told a UN Security Council debate on conflict prevention and resolution in Africa on 22 May that "trafficking in illegal small arms and light weapons is the worst scourge in African conflicts". Noting that the Council had addressed the issue in the past, he stressed that conflicts in Africa could not be resolved without also dealing with that question. Tanzania's National Action Plan, developed in November 2001, is "the first coordinated and comprehensive national approach which develops a practical and realistic plan... based on a thorough assessment of the manifestation of the small arms problem," according to Saferworld and Safer Africa's "Monitor" newsletter, dedicated to promoting action in this area. [see http://www.saferworld.co.uk/] The plan, which emerged from a comprehensive and inclusive assessment of the problem, with community actors as well as government and security officials, sets out initiatives including: police training, community-based weapons collection and destruction, a national education programme and a conference to explore ways of cooperation between civil society and government in implementation of arms management and disarmament measures. The National Defence and Security Committee, which deals with all matters of Tanzania's security, has had its remit extended to cover small arms control issues, and a national Arms Management and Disarmament Committee (AMAD) been set up, including key civil society partners, to direct and oversee the implementation of the national plan. "Different countries are moving at different paces, depending on their own situations, and Tanzania is among the leaders in the region," Lt-Col (Retd) Jan Kamenju, Director of SRIC, told IRIN on Tuesday. The hope was to develop and integrate small arms plans in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, and - over time - expand that to other countries in the region, he said. Arms control was not a short-term or part-time business but it was hoped to have a number of national plans within a year or so to tackle the problem (a considerable one for public safety and development in eastern Africa and the Horn) in line with the Nairobi Declaration of December 2000, Kamenju added. Hundreds of thousands of people are killed by small arms in the world each year, in addition to the human and economic loss associated with death and injury, disease outbreaks caused or exacerbated by small arms, and health systems destroyed and overstretched. [see related UN documents at http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/CAB/smallarms/presskit.htm] In Tanzania, though exposure to violent conflict and the levels of the use of firearms in crime were relatively low, firearms were having a growing negative effect in certain parts - with penetration most serious in Kigoma and Kagera regions, bordering war-torn Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and in Morogoro Region, in the southeast, according to the joint research report. Kigoma is not only the region where firearm penetration appears to be greatest but also where its impact is greatest, according to the study, which also suggested that ownership in Kigoma and Kagera may be of "illicitly acquired or possessed weapons". The penetration of firearms was an issue, though to a lesser extent, in the regions of Arusha in the northeast, Mwanza in the north and Pwani in the east. The report highlighted a strong perception of rising crime in Tanga Region in the northeast, which, it said, needed to be monitored for fear that, at some point, it could bring about a worsening firearm situation through the use of guns to commit crimes or their acquisition for self-defence. In Tanzania, those areas where a serious firearm problem has been identified - Kigoma, Kagera and Morogoro - are also found to be among those that appear to be entering a period of economic decline, according to the study. Kilimanjaro in the northeast was the region where firearm proliferation appeared lowest, though the impact of small arms also seemed low in Mbeya in the southwest and Arusha, according to the study. Crime rates are still generally low in Tanzania and what crime is committed tends to be theft, often opportunistic, involving house-breaking and cattle theft, the report stated. However, certain key problems had a significant effect on perceptions of safety, including the spill-over effect of refugees and banditry activity in the northern regions, including Kigoma and Kagera. It was not altogether surprising that crime was on the increase in Kigoma when public services and facilities there had been stretched by a significant rise in the population due to refugees fleeing conflict in neighbouring countries, the report said. The police were overstretched in Kigoma as a result of the increased population, and this had allowed criminal activities to flourish, it stated; moreover, the police were not adequately trained to deal with a number of refugee-related issues - such as reconciliation of refugee families, land disputes and medical emergencies - and this had placed a further strain on their capacity. "The relatively high numbers of respondents who felt refugees had a large impact on their community illustrate the negative perceptions that abound in Tanzania about the presence of [over 500,000] refugees in their country," said the report. "These perceptions do not... seem to be supported by reality as the incidence of refugees moving into most regions is low," it added. Refugees in Tanzania are overwhelmingly concentrated in Kigoma and Kagera. Tanzania is concerned over the potentially destabilising effect of the violent conflict which has riven neighbouring DRC, Rwanda and Burundi in recent years, and from which refugees have flowed into Kigoma and Kagera. Some 74 percent of the Kagera respondents felt that refugees had a large or very large impact on their communities, while fully 98 percent of Kigoma respondents felt likewise, according to the small arms survey. One of the destabilising factors in these regions was "the presence of factions within refugee camps", which was heightening the feeling of insecurity. "This has a particularly negative impact on the level of firearm proliferation in these regions, both in terms of illegal weapons in the hands of rebel fighters and the responsive demand for arms as a means of self-defence and security that a diminishing sense of safety stimulates," it added. While "the overall perception of security does not raise considerable concerns" countrywide, especially in daylight hours, the situation was less happy in Kagera and Kigoma. The environment was also perceived to be worse after dark, "very markedly so" in Pwani and Morogoro - perhaps because of their relative proximity to Tanzania's biggest city, Dar es Salaam, the report stated. Only in Kagera did a significant proportion of people surveyed feel they could turn to the police for conflict resolution, respondents generally preferring tribal leaders or other community leaders, which suggested "that the overall perception of the utility of the police may not be so good". "Where the quality of the police service is deemed to be poor," the report said, "particular projects to enhance the actual quality of the police service should be contemplated, as well as initiatives that enhance the public perception of the police and the level of interaction with the community. Given confidence levels in the police, "any national initiative to tackle firearm proliferation would need to be a partnership between government and civil society", according to the survey's findings. On the plus side, however, strong social cohesion, coupled with the widespread recognition of the need for controls, would suggest that "community-based firearm control initiatives are likely to be embraced". On Thursday and Friday, the first phase of activities around implementation of the small arms action plan will include the hosting a civil society conference in Dar es Salaam to extend discussion of the matter to nongovernmental and community-based organisations working on issues of development, gender, youth etc to see how they might be brought on board in a combined effort. Kamenju, whose organisation will be involved by the Tanzanian government in co-hosting that conference, acknowledged that enormous problems remained in tackling small arms when conflicts (whether in Sudan, Somalia, Uganda or Ethiopia-Eritrea) had made guns freely available to militias, rebel groups, bandits and within many communities. "At one stage or another we will have to deal with non-state actors, too, because they are often the people controlling the situation [and the arms] on the ground," he said. "Those countries who can move forward quicker can be a role model for the others, and Tanzania's developing and implementing the national plan provides a possible model for other affected countries," Kamenju told IRIN. "That can also help with the development of an integrated regional plan, in time." [ENDS]