*** 24-Feb-0* ***
Title: DISARMAMENT: UN Supports Swapping Weapons for Sewing Machines
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 (IPS) - The United Nations is backing a new arms "buy-back" programme under which combatants and civilians in
several war zones are swapping assault rifles and bazookas for sewing machines and bicycles - and even new schools and roads.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that such incentives - as part of an initiative to disarm and demobilise war-torn societies - should be geared to benefit entire communities.
Weapons collection programmes in post-conflict situations, he points out, can be linked with humanitarian and development
initiatives, such as food, housing support or job training.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is currently supervising a community-based pilot project in Gramsh, Albania, where services
such as new schools, health care and road repairs are provided in return for the surrender of arms and ammunition.
The UNDP's "developmental incentives" include the installation of telephones for all nine commune leaders in Gramsh and the
provision of vehicles for the police at a cost of 130,000 dollars.
Roughly 10,000 weapons - mostly assault rifles and pistols - have been handed over under the buy-back programme in Gramsh.
Albania has agreed to publicly destroy these weapons.
Overall, the UNDP has been trying to recover some 650,000 small arms and artillery which fell into the hands of the Albania's
civilian population during internal unrest in early 1997.
The lost weapons include 351,000 rifles, 25,000 machine guns, 226,000 assault rifles and 2,450 grenade launchers. Additionally,
the government is trying to recover some 1.5 million bullets and artillery shells and one million anti-tank mines.
Under a similar programme run by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Mozambique, weapons have been exchanged for bicycles,
hoes and construction materials.
In a new report on disarmament released last week, Annan expressed reservations over a buy-back programme under which
civilians are being paid in cash - not in kind - to surrender their weapons to government authorities.
Annan says that paying cash for weapons may, in fact, have a reverse effect, triggering a larger flow of weapons to post-war
countries.
"The establishment of a high price for weapons so as to promote disarmament may paradoxically create an artificial market for
weapons and spark an overwhelming movement of weapons into the country and surrounding region," he says.
The study said that at various times "buy-back" programmes have been considered as a means to accelerate disarmament and advance
a peace process.
"While weapons exchanges that offer direct financial payments to individuals have been used in the past - and may again be
necessary in the future - such programmes may be destabilising in post-conflict countries and regions marred by insecurity," Annan
argues.
Buy-back programmes that target civilians may also have a further negative impact, since military combatants who are
instructed by their leaders to hand over weapons, and are not paid to do so, may perceive this as unfair.
The study, however, points out that other forms of reimbursement based upon non-monetary rewards may be less problematic.
In post-conflict situations, the United Nations has also retained custody of weapons which have ultimately been provided to
restructured armed forces.
"However, the best scenario for disposal of weapons is frequently their destruction," the study says.
Such a measure can serve not only as a means of creating security, but also as a strong symbol that the country is
embarking on an era of peace.
The study also says that it may therefore be useful to have a public, large-scale destruction ceremony at key points within a
disarmament exercise and/or its conclusion.
Meanwhile, a panel of arms experts has already urged the United Nations to help destroy all stockpiles of small arms as part of a
peace agreement to end military conflicts.
Mitsuro Donowaki of Japan, chairman of the 16-member Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms, said his panel has recommended
that member states consider the feasibility of destroying surplus weapons in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of
criminal elements or being transferred to other conflict zones.
When 12 years of civil war ended in El Salvador in 1992, a total of some 75,000 people had been killed, he said. Today, some 8,000
people are killed each year in that country by small arms and light weapons left behind after the peace treaty.
The 1997 study also recommended the destruction of all surplus small arms to prevent them from being recycled from one military
conflict to another. (END/IPS/IP/td/ks/00)
Origin: Rome/DISARMAMENT/
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[c] 2000, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
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