Drizzt
Member
Agence France Presse
February 19, 2003 Wednesday 11:59 PM Eastern Time
SECTION: International News
LENGTH: 347 words
HEADLINE: Police and paramilitary guns biggest Pacific arms problem: study
DATELINE: AUCKLAND, Feb 19
BODY:
The biggest problem with weapons in the Pacific is not illegal smuggling or a blackmarket in guns but the inability of the region's police and paramilitary forces to look after their weapons, a study to be published Thursday says.
University of British Columbia Centre for International Relations Fellow, David Capie, noted that police and military weapons taken from law enforcement armouries caused major recent unrest in Fiji and the Solomons.
In "The Small Arms Challenge in the Pacific" (published by Victoria University Press) Capie said while some military weapons are smuggled in, most weapons used in unrest "originate in poorly maintained military and police arsenals". "Weapons are frequently kept in insecure conditions and their use by authorised personnel is poorly managed," the report says. "The result is that arms and ammunition are misplaced, or stolen and sold by corrupt soldiers or police officers."
Much of the unrest in the Solomons, now in its fourth year of civil war, occurred when one side seized up to 500 weapons from the police. In Fiji, the 2000 coup that toppled the government was carried out with arms taken from the military.
Capie said this amounted to a serious problem in the Pacific because when it occurred it totally changed the authority structure in the country.
"A lot of the traditional patterns of authority are being undermined and a lot of young people realise power comes from the barrel of a gun and if you have a weapon you become an important person and you get access to resources and things you would not have otherwise," he told AFP in an interview.
"The problem with the armouries is that it is not just a case of building better armouries. Some of them are shocking ... some of the physical security is terrible.
"But even if you have the most secure armoury in the world if someone has the key and wants to let someone to help themselves to the weapon or troops have been given the gun, if they cannot control it if they lose it or sell it, that is an enormous problem."
February 19, 2003 Wednesday 11:59 PM Eastern Time
SECTION: International News
LENGTH: 347 words
HEADLINE: Police and paramilitary guns biggest Pacific arms problem: study
DATELINE: AUCKLAND, Feb 19
BODY:
The biggest problem with weapons in the Pacific is not illegal smuggling or a blackmarket in guns but the inability of the region's police and paramilitary forces to look after their weapons, a study to be published Thursday says.
University of British Columbia Centre for International Relations Fellow, David Capie, noted that police and military weapons taken from law enforcement armouries caused major recent unrest in Fiji and the Solomons.
In "The Small Arms Challenge in the Pacific" (published by Victoria University Press) Capie said while some military weapons are smuggled in, most weapons used in unrest "originate in poorly maintained military and police arsenals". "Weapons are frequently kept in insecure conditions and their use by authorised personnel is poorly managed," the report says. "The result is that arms and ammunition are misplaced, or stolen and sold by corrupt soldiers or police officers."
Much of the unrest in the Solomons, now in its fourth year of civil war, occurred when one side seized up to 500 weapons from the police. In Fiji, the 2000 coup that toppled the government was carried out with arms taken from the military.
Capie said this amounted to a serious problem in the Pacific because when it occurred it totally changed the authority structure in the country.
"A lot of the traditional patterns of authority are being undermined and a lot of young people realise power comes from the barrel of a gun and if you have a weapon you become an important person and you get access to resources and things you would not have otherwise," he told AFP in an interview.
"The problem with the armouries is that it is not just a case of building better armouries. Some of them are shocking ... some of the physical security is terrible.
"But even if you have the most secure armoury in the world if someone has the key and wants to let someone to help themselves to the weapon or troops have been given the gun, if they cannot control it if they lose it or sell it, that is an enormous problem."
