Where are the guns in Mozambique?

Fifteen years after the peace treaty that ended Mozambique's civil war and claimed over one million casualties and scattered 600,000 weapons – a legacy of almost 20 years of  bloodshed – throughout the country, civil authorities still don´t know the total number of weapons in circulation in the country. As a result, the Mozambiquean government entrusted the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to carry out a study to find out how many guns and weapons are in Mozambique and who owns them.

Researcher Pablo Dreyfus, coordinator of Viva Rio's Gun Control Project, was recently in Mozambique to perform mapping studies. The research project, carried out by the Small Arms Survey with Dreyfus working as a consultant, aimed at gathering information about the number and type of weapons in the hands of civilians and security forces as well as tallying weapons stashed away illegally in hideouts by former war veterans. The project, furthermore, aimed at providing information on legal and illegal guns and weapons sales in the country.

Information in Mozambique on weapons in circulation is scanty partly because police lack integrated and standardized data banks. Recently, Ambrósio Muandula of the Mozambiquean police and  UNDP representatives met in Rio de Janeiro recently to learn about Brazil´s voluntary gun turn-in program, the implementation of the Disarmament Statute (Estatuto do Desarmamento) and other facts and figures on firearms and weapons in Brazil.

The meeting took place at Viva Rio headquarters from July 3 to 6, 2007. The committee visited Rio de Janeiro Civilian Police headquarters and the Instituto de Criminalística Carlo Éboli (Criminology Institute), which is responsible for collecting data on weapons seized by the police. Moreover, the committee was given a close up of the Brazilian Domestic Firearm Program (SINARM), a possible model for a gun control project in Mozambique.

Leftovers from Mozambique's Civil War

According to information in the chapter on Mozambique in the report, “Hide and Seek”, published in 2004 by the Gun Free South Africa movement, weapons used by government forces, representing Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO) during the civil war, were supplied by Russia. The report further states that thousands of AK-47 rifles were distributed to the population during the conflict. According to the ISS, weapons used by the rebel group – Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) –were supplied primarily by Rhodesia and South Africa as well as Kenya, Portugal, Germany and the U.S.

Miguel Barreiro, coordinator of UNDP's Crime Control Program in Mozambique, believes one of the main reasons people feel insecure is the spread of illegal firearms, especially in urban areas. “The situation has deteriorated due to insufficient gun control and the existing legal system. Mozambique´s police force is also unfit to deal with the problem. Since firearm spread is rampant and is, in fact, jeopardizing peace and stability in Mozambique, it may potentially wipe out all progress achieved in the country during the last decade,” added Barreiro.

Gun control laws in Mozambique are quite strict. Civilians, for instance, are allowed a maximum caliber of 7.65, which is equivalent to a .32-caliber pistol. Civilians must also comply with a series of requirements to obtain a permit to purchase, own and carry a gun.

Army Weapons

Still, the problem remains of weapons used during the civil war and now stashed away in hideouts or not yet turned in by veterans following Mozambique's demobilization. Following the war, the demobilization and disarmament program coordinated by the UN Peace Mission to Mozambique (ONUMUZ) encouraged former guerrilla fighters and government soldiers to hand over their weapons. However, not all the weapons used by war veterans were returned; Mozambique´s Armed Forces kept their caches and ammunition dumps while weapons collected were not destroyed but rather placed in inadequate storage facilities. No wonder so many weapons found their way back to the streets.

Recently, explosions have occurred at Mozambiquean Army ammunition dumps in Maputo. The worst one happened in February 2007 and killed over 100 people while injuring over 400. According to estimates, over 1000 tons of ammunition blew up in what was considered Mozambique´s largest compound.

Miguel Barreiro believes these incidents reveal a problem that affects 16 other large dumps controlled by military forces and he stresses the urgent need of control measures.

“Mozambiquean authorities lack adequate resources for ensuring the safety at these dumps and the control of firearm and ammunition in the hands of police and security forces,” he added. 

Ambrósio Muandula, on the other hand, claims the leftovers from the civil war are not a crime-related problem. “Former fighters are adamant about turning in their guns because they are emotionally attached to them,” he said. Thus, he explains, they neither sell them nor rent them to criminals. However, Muandala agrees that such weapons kept as family souvenirs may soon become a hazard when a new generation inherits the deadly heirlooms. 

According to Pablo Dreyfus, it is really necessary draw a map of this firepower. “Until data on these weapons is systematically organized, there´s no way of knowing if war weapons are being used by criminals,” he claimed. “In Brazil, they thought the problem was foreign weapons, but our systematic research on seized weapons showed that crime uses weapons made in Brazil,” he explained.

Between 2004 and 2005, Viva Rio conducted a study on the features of weapons and ammunition in circulation in the legal and illegal Brazilian market. Results were published in the book “Brasil: as Armas e as Vítimas ” (Brazil: Guns and Victims). The study, based on interviews and official data of legal and illegal weapon caches in public and private sectors, contains a quantitative estimate of the number of firearms and weapons in Brazil.

In 2006, Brazilian NGO Viva Rio served as advisor for the Brazilian Government Parlamentary Investigation Comission (Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito - CPI) report on gunrunning and illegal weapons seized in Brazil. The Viva Rio reports offered solutions for monitoring these weapons and revealed the main sources of illegal weapons in Brazil´s underground market. 

Disarmament
  
 

Disarmament has continued in Mozambique since the first campaign in 1995. According to Nicolau Luiz of the Mozambique Christian Council, over 600,000 objects, including firearms, ammunition, grenades and land mines have been collected since 2004. Luiz states, however, that the strategy to reward people turning in their guns and weapons has changed. Before, any civilian that would turn in a firearm would receive tools, groceries or even a bike, hence the campaign´s slogan: “A gun for a plowshare.”

Currently, campaigns reward the community. “If someone, say, shows up with 10 guns, the commission goes to his community to see what it needs. Local populations are actively involved in the improvements. Weapons collected are immediately destroyed and made into a public monument in the community,” Luiz explained, 

Viva Rio's partnership with the Mozambiquean government continues. Following the aforementioned visit from Mozambique and the UNDP, a team from Viva Rio visited Brazil´s lusophone brother country in September 2007 to further advance a suitable firearms and weapons control project.

Translated by Roberto Previdi

Read Further:

Armas em Moçambique: reduzindo a disponibilidade e a demanda (Weapons in Mozambique - reducing availability and demand)
Ana Leão/2004

Hide and seek: Taking account of small arms in Southern Africa

Implementing the Southern Africa Firearms Protocol/SADCl (Southern Africa Firearms Protocol/SADC)

Sculptures from the "Arms into Art", exhibition in Maputo, 1998

Brasil: as armas e as vítimas