Tanzania Arms Destruction

 H.E Hiroshi Nakagawa, Japan Ambassador to Tanzania; Dr. Francis K. Sang, RECSA Executive Secretary; and Lt. Col. (Rtd) Issa Machibya, the Morogoro Regional Commissioner, during the arms destruction in July

RECSA has provided support to Tanzania to destroy a total of 5,660 and 1,217 firearms in Morogoro and Mwanza respectively. The destructions took place in July and August 2010 under a regional project on disarmament being coordinated by RECSA with funding from the Japan Government. In the destruction in Morogoro, collection of the firearms from the various regions/ centres started on 16th July; the destruction itself was undertaken on 27th July at Jamhuri Stadium. A total of 5,660 firearms were destroyed from 13 centres. The ceremony was attended by H.E Hiroshi Nakagawa, Japan Ambassador to Tanzania; Dr. Francis K. Sang, RECSA Executive Secretary; and Lt. Col. (Rtd) Issa Machibya, the Morogoro Regional Commissioner. In Mwanza, collection of firearms from the various regions/ centres started on 30th July, culminating in the destruction on 7th August at Nyamagana Stadium. A total of 1,217 firearms were destroyed from eight centres. The Mwanza Regional Commissioner, Mr. Abbas Hussein Kandoro, officiated at the ceremony that was also attended by Dr Sang. Since 2003, Tanzania has destroyed a total of 14,525 firearms. 

Achievements by Member States to the Nairobi Declaration

After the signing of the Nairobi Declaration, Tanzania is in its second year of implementation of its National Action Plan, which aims at implementing the international and regional agreements on small arms. The following has already been implemented.

  Establishment of the National Defense and Security Council as the policy making body on small arms and light weapons;
   Establishment of the National Focal Point Committee on Firearms and Ammunitions whose members were appointed by the Ministries and Departments that form the National Defense and Security Council;
  The establishment of the Zanzibar Arms Management and Disarmament Committee;
  The establishment of the Civil Society National NGO network in all the mainland regions and Zanzibar;
  Establishment of the Region Task Force Committee in the mainland regions; and
  The establishment of the National Committee on Arms Management, Disarmament (AMAD)
  Destruction of 1000 firearms in Dar es Salaam (August 200);destruction of 921 firearms in Mwanza (November 2003); destruction of 1500 firearms in Mbeya ( February 2004);
  Destruction of 14,000 landmines in Bagamoyo ( March and August 2003), and 4300 landmines destroyed in Arusha (January 2004)
  Identification of over one hundred micro-projects for the implementation at different stages of the National Action Plan. The micro- projects are clustered around a set of elements. The six main elements of the plan can be summarized as those leading to:
(i) Establishment/sensitization of existing national bodies and agencies;
(ii) Review of national legislation, administrative procedures and regulations followed by implementation of the new provisions;
(iii) Training and capacity building;
(iv) Developing international and regional cooperation and information exchange;
(v) Cooperation and interaction with civil society in order to build support for the National Action Plan and secure civil society involvement in its implementation; and ,
(vi) Identification and action on critical areas of control such as cross - border entry points

For more details, please refer to the Annual Report 2003, pages 31,32,33

Major Achievements to date
  On 27 th February, 2004 a Civil society workshop on the implementation of National Action Plan was held in Mbeya. At the same time, a total of 1847 illicit firearms were destroyed.
  In commemorating the United Nations Arms Day on 9 th July 2004, a total of 1000 illicit firearms were destroyed in Dar es Salaam
  On 25 th August 2004 , during the Police Day celebrated in Zanzibar , a total of 1000 illicit firearms were destroyed
  Tanzania NFP conducted National wide Training of Regional Task Forces on Small Arms Management and Reduction Programme in the following centers : Mtwara Center for the regions of Lindi and Mtwara on 5 th and 6 th April 2004; Kigoma center for Kigoma region on 15 th April 2004; Mwanza center for Mwanza , Mara Kagera and Shinyanga regions from 24 th to 25 th April 2004; Mafia center for Coastal , Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar; Morogoro center for Morogoro, Dodoma, Singida and Tabora regions on 30 th April 2004; Mbeya center for Mbeya, Iringa, Ruvuma and Rukwa regions and Arusha center for Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Manyara and Tanga regions on 13 th May 2004.
  During the Year 2004, Tanzania NFP attended consultative forums on small arms at national, regional , continental and international levels
  Further, National Focal Point Committee meeting took place in Bagamoyo , Tanzania from 1 st – 2 nd June, 2004. This meeting was able to overview the progress report of the National Action Plan for the period starting August 2001 and gave recommendations to the Arms Management and Disarmament and Funding Committee (AMAD) for having successfully implemented the project assigned to it for implementation. The projects that the Committee had been assigned were:-
  Establishment of National Focal Point Committees whose various activities in the different ministries were implemented at different levels.
  The establishment of the necessary infrastructure.
  The establishment of Regional and District Task Forces.
  Formation of Civil society NGO Network at National, Regional and district level.

All the above established bodies have been trained on their responsibilities for more than two times.

   The National Focal Point approved the draft National Policy and the Standard Operating Procedures.
  In addition to the various implemented projects the Committee also approved the one year activity schedule starting October 2004 to September 2005. Copy of this has been submitted to Nairobi Secretariat.
  Other activities conducted in 2004 include recovery and destruction of illicit firearms and other related materials
  In Mbeya in February 2004, 1847 firearms were destroyed
  In Dar es Salaam on the UN Arms Day on July 9, 2004 , 1000 firearms were destroyed
  In Zanzibar during the commemoration of the Tanzanian Police Day, 1000 firearms were destructed. The destruction process will continue in the regions where the gun cruncher and a lorry which has been provided by the UK government will be put into use.
  Computerization of the Central Fire Arms Data Base is in progress after the completion of the office space and installation of computers.
  The AMAD division in collaboration with Centre for Peace and Economic Development (CEPEDE) are working on a public awareness programme. CEPEDE has published 6 (six) issues of the Peace .without Arms Newsletter while AMAD has published 2 (two) issues.
  Further planning is under progress in the establishment of public awareness programmes and community policing at the grassroots where training will be provided to ward, village, and street defense and security committees, peoples militia groups and self defense groups (Sungusungu) who will receive training that will assist them in the participation with the Law Enforcement Agencies in joint operations. Similar programmes have already been started in Kigoma and Kagera regions since November 2004 with the support of UNDP funding amounting to Tshs. 2.6 billion.
  The Tanzanian government has sent to the parliament the ratification of the Nairobi Protocol during the November parliamentary sitting and the community policing programme which is presently being discussed will also be submitted to the parliament by early the year 2005.
  On regional cooperation Tanzania has been working with SADC member states where we have assisted the SADC member states of Botswana , Namibia and Malawi by attending and making presentations during their national conferences for the establishment of their National Action Plans. The SADC region has since established standard operating procedures and standard training curriculum and manuals. Some of our officers have already attended training in small arms control activities in Botswana and South Africa .
  Likewise, Tanzania has participated in the establishment of the above mentioned training and standard operating procedures for the Great Lakes Region under t he coordination of the Nairobi Secretariat. The rest of the regional activities for implementation are as stipulated in the activity schedule of the Nairobi Secretariat.