another link from the drudge report page:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid_457000/457224.stm
World
UN targets small arms
Unlike their victims, guns survive from one war to another
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on the
international community to stem the proliferation of small arms across
the world.
He told a special meeting of the Security Council that restricting the
flow of such weapons would be a key challenge in preventing conflict
in the next century.
Estimates of the number of firearms in the world
range from 100 million to 500 million.
Mr Annan said there was "no single tool of
conflict so widespread, so easily available, and
so difficult to restrict, as small arms".
''Not only are they the primary instrument of the
murder of civilians who are increasingly targetted in civil wars of our
area but, unlike their victims, small arms survive from conflict to
conflict,'' he added.
US action
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said America would "refrain
from selling arms to regions of conflict not already covered by arms
embargoes".
"We have passed laws making it illegal for [arms] traffickers subject to
American law to broker illicit deals anywhere. We ask others to crack
down on brokering as well."
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook
said $5 million would buy
''approximately 20,000 assault rifles -
enough to equip the army of a
medium-sized state".
He said conflicts fought with small
weapons had killed more than three
million people in the past decade
alone.
"We need to regulate and make
more transparent the official trade in
firearms. And we must drive out the
business in the illicit traffic in
firearms."
Gem trade
Mrs Albright also recommended
cracking down on the illicit trade in precious stones, which is used to
raise money to buy arms.
"The United States accounts for
65% of the world's gemstone
market, and we recognise that we
must play our part to end illicit
transactions," she said.
Mrs Albright cited the example of
Sierra Leone, where she said illicit
profits from diamond sales had
"allowed the RUF (the rebel
Revolutionary United Front) to
transform itself from a band of 400
into a marauding army of
thousands".
Several members of the Security
Council spoke in favour of marking
and registering firearms, so that their
movement could be tracked.
Canada suggested ammunition
should also be branded.
But China opposed strict controls, saying that countries should be
allowed to manufacture and export small arms.
Annan's proposals
In his report Mr Annan recommended that member states should:
Better enforce UN arms embargoes on nations in conflict
Adopt gun control laws including a prohibition of unrestricted
trade and private ownership of small arms
Require arms manufacturers to put serial numbers and
identification marks on weapons
Ensure stockpiles of unmarked weapons are carefully guarded
to prevent theft, and destroyed as soon as possible
Share information on the registration of guns and on legal
transactions, in order to trace black market deals
Stop shipments of weapons to regions of conflict
A brochure produced at the meeting by the Netherlands said an AK-47
assault rifle could be bought in Uganda for the price of a chicken, in
Kenya for the price of a goat and in Mozambique and Angola for the
price of a sack of corn.
dZ
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will you stand with me in DC on 10-2-99?
http://www.myplanet.net/jeffhead/LibMarch