VZCZCXRO9652
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAR #1855/01 2261211
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141211Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2109
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0037

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001855 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR COURVILLE, JUSTICE FOR ICITAP AND OPDAT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL PGOV PHUM KCRM MOPS ASEC GH
SUBJECT: ILLEGAL SMALL ARMS IN GHANA 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Ghana has an estimated 150,000 illegal 
arms.  Most are crude locally made guns, but there is an 
unknown quantity of arms trafficking from elsewhere in West 
Africa.  Ghana,s Small Arms Commission has worked with the 
UNDP and civil society on the issue since 2003 through the 
Ghana Small Arms Program. GOG efforts to combat the problem 
are hindered by porous borders, lack of police capacity and 
poor data collection. Corruption in smuggling and trafficking 
is also a challenge. The UNDP is seeking technical assistance 
to map the regional distribution, trafficking routes, and 
manufacturing sites of illicit guns in Ghana and to provide 
income alternatives to local blacksmiths producing illegal 
weapons. While the presence of illicit small arms is not 
currently a source of instability in Ghana, further study of 
the issue would better inform our understanding and the 
government,s preventive work to address the issue.  End 
Summary. 
 
--------------------------- 
GHANA,S SMALL ARMS PROBLEMS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U)  A 2005 baseline study funded by the UNDP estimates 
that there are a minimum of 125,000 illicit guns in Ghana. 
This includes 50,000 industrial guns (trafficked from abroad, 
leaked from the police, or guns with expired licenses) and 
75,000 produced by local blacksmiths. (Note: While blacksmith 
production is not illegal, many of these guns are 
un-registered. End note.) The baseline study was not 
statistically rigorous, but was based on field interviews and 
estimations by researchers. 
 
¶3. (U)  Guns made by local blacksmiths cost as little as USD 
3.30 each.  Locally manufactured pistols are linked to 
violent crime in Ghana. According to government reports and 
the Africa Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR), assailants 
use locally manufactured pistols in 60 percent of all 
recorded armed robberies. 
 
¶4. (U)  Weaknesses in the Ghana Police Service (GPS) 
contribute to the small arms problem. Citizens get frustrated 
with the failures of the GPS and at times take the law into 
their own hands with locally made guns. 
 
--------------------- 
TRANS-BORDER PROBLEMS 
--------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU)  More sophisticated weapons cross Ghana,s porous 
borders, stemming from conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone 
during the 1990s, or from the more recent conflict in Cote 
d,Ivoire.  During a recent visit by PDAS for Verification, 
Compliance and Implementation (VCI) Chris Ford, Minister of 
National Security Francis Poku said, &we concede that we 
have porous borders that are hard to control. We are trying 
to get the latest technology to improve monitoring of the 
borders.8 
 
¶6. (U)  ASDR research fellow Emmanuel Sowatey identified 
foreign sources fueling the sub-region,s arms supply, noting 
that &former Soviet states in Eastern Europe have few 
controls on their arms industry.8 The West African Action 
Network on Small Arms (WAANSA) is working with the U.K. to 
address the issue of arms controls in Europe. 
 
¶7. (U)  Sowatey told Poloff that there has been &gun 
running8 in the northwest region of the country in the 
tri-border area where Ghana meets Cote d,Ivoire and Burkina 
Faso. He stated that demand for weapons had come from 
rebel-held territory in the northern part of Cote d,Ivoire 
and that &corrupt (Ghanaian) security agencies8 were a 
major challenge. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Superintendent of Police Francis Nyarko, the police 
officer most involved in handling small arms issues, 
similarly identified the problem of weapons smuggling from 
Cote d,Ivoire. &People need money to buy food and therefore 
they will smuggle,8 he said, adding that &Refugees are not 
screened properly. There are no resources to screen them and 
they can bring guns.8 
 
¶9. (U)  Nyarko and others highlighted the need for data 
 
ACCRA 00001855  002 OF 003 
 
 
collection. The UNDP is working on this with help from the 
U.K., and seeks further assistance to map the regional 
distribution of illicit gun trafficking and manufacturing in 
Ghana. 
 
---------------------- 
MULTILATERAL SOLUTIONS 
---------------------- 
 
¶10. (U)  On June 14, 2006  ECOWAS Heads of State and 
Government met in Abuja, Nigeria to sign a &Convention on 
Small Arms and Light Weapons, Their Ammunition and Other 
Related Materials.8 The Convention replaces the 1998 ECOWAS 
Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of 
Light Weapons. The push for a sub-regional Convention emerged 
from an initiative headed by the former Malian president. The 
call to convert the voluntary moratorium into a binding 
ECOWAS Convention came from a collective of civil society 
groups linked through the West Africa Action Network on Small 
Arms (WAANSA). 
 
¶11. (U)  The ECOWAS sub-regional approach is backed by the 
UNDP,s ECOWAS Small Arms Program (ECOSAP), a USD 30 million 
program that works to strengthen the capacity of the national 
small arms commissions in ECOWAS member states and harmonize 
their activities. ECOSAP is the successor to UNDP,s earlier 
Program for Coordination and Assistance for Security and 
Development (PCASED), which led to the establishment of small 
arms commissions in 12 of the 15 ECOWAS member states. 
 
¶12. (SBU)  Afi Yakubu, a member of Ghana,s Small Arms 
Commission and Associate Director of the Foundation for 
Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), told Emboff he 
was disappointed with the recent Review Conference on the 
Implementation of the 2001 UN Program of Action to Prevent, 
Combat and Eradicate the illicit Trade in Small Arms and 
Light Weapons. The Review Conference ended July 7 without 
agreeing on an outcome document. Yakubu, who is also 
Secretary of WAANSA, advocates an international legal 
 
SIPDIS 
instrument to combat the brokering of illicit arms. &You can 
clean your house up well (in West Africa), but the flood 
comes from outside,8 she stated. 
 
------------------------- 
GHANA,S DOMESTIC EFFORTS: 
WORKING WITH THE UNDP 
------------------------- 
 
¶13. (U)  The Ghanaian Small Arms Commission, created in 2001, 
has been working with the UNDP since 2003. Local researchers 
believe Ghana,s Commission is further along in implementing 
the Convention than in other ECOWAS member states. 
 
¶14. (U)  The Ghana Small Arms Reduction and Conflict 
Prevention program is a partnership between the Ministry of 
Interior and the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms, 
funded by the UNDP and other development partners (the UK is 
the largest donor). The program began in 2003, with funding 
for 2003-2005 totaling USD 480,000.  Accomplishments of the 
program include:  a baseline survey of the illicit weapons 
issue, initial implementation of a computerized firearms 
registry, creation of an armed violence database that tracks 
reports from Ghanaian news sources, and completion of a 
public sensitization campaign on small arms. 
 
¶15. (U)  The Small Arms Commission has focused on public 
outreach and the public destruction of illegal arms. The 
Commission meets monthly and includes members from police, 
military, Attorney General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
Immigration service and the Customs service. Since 2001 the 
Commission has destroyed 2,000 weapons. Awareness campaigns 
are directed at youth in primary and secondary schools, and 
include &Weapons Free Clubs8 created in two regions of the 
country that have experienced ethnic disputes. 
 
¶16. (U)  Members of the Commission and the UNDP espouse the 
benefits of the &arms for development8 approach to tackle 
the issue of local production, focusing on creating economic 
alternatives for the blacksmiths who produce un-registered 
weapons. The Ashanti Regional Blacksmith Association assisted 
police in the Ashanti Region to arrest arms producers. The 
Small Arms Commission would like to repeat this success by 
 
ACCRA 00001855  003 OF 003 
 
 
taking the Ashanti Blacksmiths to help form collectives of 
blacksmiths in each regional capital city. 
 
------ 
GAPS 
------ 
 
¶19. (SBU)  A UNDP official identified the need for reliable 
data as a significant gap in Ghana,s efforts to counter 
small arms proliferation. He and one member of the Small Arms 
Commission were unsatisfied with the work on the Baseline 
Study, expressing that it lacked firm indications of which 
parts of the country had the most significant small arms 
issues. A police official echoed this concern, noting that 
the GOG has run a manual paper gun registry for over six 
decades. Because these records are so poor, it is hard to 
know the number of legal, let alone illicit small arms in 
Ghana, he said. 
 
¶20. (SBU)  The UNDP,s representative and a Small Arms 
Commission member were also disappointed that the Baseline 
Study revealed little about &industrial8 guns because of 
its focus on local manufacturing. The UNDP representative 
expressed the need for technical assistance in mapping gun 
transit routes and conflicts in the country such as 
chieftaincy disputes. He also expressed the need to improve 
police capacity to handle these and other major public 
security situations. 
 
¶21. (U)  Superintendent Nyarko highlighted the need for 
logistical support (especially vehicles and A/V equipment) to 
support the awareness-building efforts of the Commission. The 
Ministry of Interior and UNDP are assisting in this regard. 
 
¶22. (U)  Sources expressed particular concern about youth 
unemployment and about the potential for idle youth to fuel 
conflict in armed crime or as proxies in local chieftaincy 
disputes.  Contacts bemoaned the lack of targeted policies 
aimed at improving youth employment levels, especially among 
young males. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶23. (SBU)  In the sub-region, trafficking in illicit weapons 
remains a serious concern about which we have unreliable 
data. While risk factors still remain and require GOG 
monitoring, Ghana has taken a commendable preventive approach 
to the small arms issue. During PDAS Ford,s visit, Ghanaian 
interlocutors (government and non-governmental) underscored 
concerns about small arms and light weapons. 
 
¶24. (SBU)  However, in a recent discussion with PolChief, the 
Minister for National Security expressed less concern about 
small arms than he did during PDAS Ford,s visit, insisting 
it was &under control8 and that it is unrealistic to think 
that all small arms could be eliminated.  The Inspector 
General of Police also told PolChief the problem was minor 
and under control. More data collection will enhance our 
understanding of the extent and impact of the small arms 
issue in Ghana. 
BRIDGEWATER