By Charles Pemu NEW YORK—A stark warning has been issued by the United Nations: the massive, unregulated flow of approximately one billion small arms and light weapons (SALW) is the critical fuel sustaining conflicts, organized crime, and terrorism across Africa and the wider world.
Adedeji Ebo, Director and Deputy High Representative of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, told the Security Council that the illicit trade and misuse of these weapons maintain armed violence and enable criminal networks across multiple regions. He stressed that controlling small arms is an absolute “prerequisite for sustainable peace.”
Ebo highlighted a critical failure in arms control: weapons are consistently being diverted from national stockpiles and throughout the supply chain, ultimately ending up in the hands of non-state armed groups. He issued a grave caution, stating that the weapons produced and transferred today pose a direct risk of “fuelling the instability of tomorrow.”
The human cost is severe. The UN recorded a minimum of 48,000 conflict-related civilian deaths in 2024, with small arms accounting for up to 30 percent in some contexts. The UN official stressed that these abuses are preventable and urged the Security Council to seamlessly integrate small arms control into all peace operations, peacebuilding strategies, and sanctions monitoring.
Echoing the alarm, the African Union High Representative for Silencing the Guns, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, described small arms proliferation as a “cancer” driving instability across the continent, citing conflicts from the Sahel to the Great Lakes region and the ongoing horrific violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.
The threat is evolving, Ebo noted, pointing to the growing spread of 3D-printed “ghost guns”weapons without serial numbers which are increasingly appearing in illicit markets in Western Europe and Latin America.
Organized Crime and Need for Global Cooperation
Roraima Andriani, UN Special Representative to INTERPOL, detailed how illicit firearms trafficking has become deeply entrenched with cross-border organized crime. Criminal networks utilize these weapons to violently control territory, protect illegal economies, and expand their influence.
Andriani reported that INTERPOL’s global iARMS database already contains more than two million records of lost, stolen, and trafficked weapons. She emphasized that no single measure taken in isolation can stem this tide, calling for transnational cooperation and urging the Security Council to formally incorporate INTERPOL’s role into all sanctions and arms embargo mandates.
Ultimately, the UN official called for coordinated global action to halt the illicit flows that are driving conflict, organized crime, and mass displacement, noting that despite AU-led initiatives like the Africa Amnesty Month, the scale of the problem remains vast. (NAN)