‎“This pilot initiative will hopefully be extended to the ‎whole country” Interior Ministry’s Kayse A. Ismail

Buroa, Somaliland , October 29, 2005 (SL Times) – A drive for the registration of civilian weapons has been launched in Buroa, capital of the Togdheer region, following a successful small arms workshop held here on 11—13 October by the Somaliland government authorities in collaboration with the UNDP’s Rule of Law programme.

“In last 10 days around 300 people have already come forward to apply for registration of small weapons in their possession.” Abdi Hussein Dheere, the Governor of the Togdheer region, told the Somaliland Times on Friday.

In the 3 day workshop, regional and central government officials, clan elders and representatives of civil society organizations including women groups, discussed together the concept of small arms registration.

The idea received a strong support from almost all of the participants and the workshop concluded with laying down of procedures for registration of small arms, and a consensus agreement on a criteria for ownership of weapons.

According to Kayse Adan Ismail, the General Director of the ministry of Interior, Buroa’s small arms workshop and a subsequent one held earlier this week in Gabiley, Hargeysa region, were meant to raise awareness and have the diverse opinions of community leaders on the subject considered in prelude to a weapons registration pilot initiative that was originally planned to take place in both above areas as from next November.

However in Buroa, regional authorities said that they were obliged to go ahead of the schedule for starting the registration of small arms due to the positive reaction shown by the public in favor of the process.

However Togdheer’s governor Abdi Hussein was quick to point out that the estimated 300 applicants who have so far been processed were numerically insignificant considering the large number of people believed to own small arms in Buroa.

“We are encouraged but what we have seen until now is only the tip of the iceberg”, the governor said.

Abdi Hussein emphasized the role of awareness raising in the success of small arms registration. The workshop discussions in Buroa have already produced a positive impact but that is only a fraction of the work needed to be done in terms of awareness raising as we have to reach out to people in more than 200 towns and major rural centers in this region alone.”

The governor said that following the massive demobilization of former SNM combatants and the clan militia men, coupled with the surrender of heavy weaponry to the government in the early 1990s, a favorable environment existed now in Somaliland for dealing with the issue of small arms.

“People want to legalize their ownership of small arms and when a piece of a weapon is sold both the seller and buyer need to legalize the transaction to avoid either simply being cheated or falling prey to criminals.”

Abdi Hussein has expressed his appreciation of the UNDP’s assistance in support of the small arms registration in Somaliland .

“The Rule and Law programme in the persons of Sidi Zahabi, Fadumo Saeed and Hassan A. Jama have done a good job but we hope that the wider international community will pay a more serious attention to our efforts for dealing with the problem of small arms,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the general director of the ministry of Interior disclosed that the second phase of the current civilian weapons registration programme will be extended to other regions in Somaliland based on pilot results from Buroa and Gabiley.

Commenting on the registration exercise that has begun in Buroa, he said that this pilot initiative will hopefully be extended to the whole country in the future.

It has been a long-held tradition in Somaliland to own firearms for the purpose of defense against hostile aggression. Though the majority of Somalilanders still consider ownership of weapons a basic right, however according to recent reports most of them would accept the legalization of such an ownership.

Meanwhile the problems associated with guns were dramatized in a play performed by the Godir Artists group. The play pulled large crowds in both Buroa and Gabiley.

Home | Contact us | Links | Archives