Law enforcement organisations throughout Southern Africa are taking a significant step forward to ensure better firearms control. Participating SADC countries took possession of pin stamping marking machines and, even more significantly, are now in possession of a computer software programme that would allow them to apply, track and trace, individualised 2D markings on each of the firearms under their control. This process is a significant firearm control development in the SADC region.

In line with the requirements of the SADC Protocol, National Focal Points (NFPs) were established in the countries that signed on to the Protocol. The NFPs are members of the Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) under the auspices of the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (SARPCCO), tasked with the implementation of the legal requirements of the SADC Protocol.

The RCC, in fulfilling the role as regional coordinating body for the implementation of the SADC Protocol, personifies the ideals contained within the Protocol. It is through the continued desire to cooperate and strive for a region safe from firearm violence that SADC is now on the verge of becoming the leader in firearms control in Africa. In the spirit of Article 3 of the SADC Protocol, the RCC endeavours to ‘prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit manufacturing of firearms, ammunition and other related materials, and their excessive and destabilising accumulation, trafficking, possession and use in the region.’

The RCC continues to prioritise the need to manage and control firearms within the SADC region more effectively. The committee considered the fact that countries in SADC are not on the same level when it comes to firearms control. Many of the countries have to deal with arms and ammunition that remained in circulation after the cessation of hostilities internally and in countries such as Angola and Mozambique. Many of these ‘remnants of war’ found their way into the hands of criminals and in addition to being used in domestic criminal activities and are causing further law enforcement headaches by being used in the perpetration of transnational crime.

Further complicating matters are the challenge posed by limited resources in poor countries. Government forces had to be armed and weapons that were used during conflict became the weapons currently used by State security forces. This in itself would not be a problem, if these weapons were properly marked and effectively controlled.

This is however one of the challenges faced by State security forces since the weapons in their care are not adequately managed. The firearms control systems are antiquated largely due to an indifferent approach to firearms control as a direct result of years of conflict and limited oversight over combatants that were not part of a regular army. Tracing the origin of firearms recovered from criminals is also hampered by the possible existence of duplicate numbers on firearms of similar design but of different origin. For example; the AK-47 automatic rifle has been manufactured in Egypt, Albania, Iran, Romania and the People’s Republic of China, to name but a few manufacturing countries.

To address these challenges and after much deliberation the RCC came to the conclusion that the most logical way to address these problems was to re-mark firearms under State control with individualised markings that can be traced to a specific country. The existing numbers on the firearms will not be removed and would form another layer of identification if needed. The old numbers will be recorded along with the new pin stamped numbers and the 2D code on the management and control database, contributing to the process of individualising each firearm.

In principle it would possible to determine if a firearm was the property of, for instance, the Namibian government if it is recovered on a crime scene. Lost firearms would be identified much faster than what was previously possible. The manual check and verification process would be replaced with a scanning system. The scanning system is similar to the bar code scanning system used by large retail chains to control stock and manage the sale of goods. The difference is that a firearm can be marked with an individual ‘fingerprint’ while consumer goods are marked in batches.

The reality remains however that re-marking firearms and recording the firearms on consolidated databases will not prevent firearms from being used in crime. What this process can achieve is to ensure that the State has strict control over firearms in its possession. The control system is designed to notify firearm stockpile managers if a weapon was due to be returned and the person entrusted with it failed to do so. And other countries within SADC will be able to identify firearms that were lost from national inventories throughout the region.

Written by Ben Coetzee Senior Researcher Arms Management Programme ISS Pretoria Office