This archive report was first published on 1 September 2019.
Published on September 1, 2019, the African Union's amnesty month for the voluntary surrender of weapons has seen limited success in East Africa.
According to the Regional Centre for small arms (RECSA), there are 7.8 million illegal arms in the hands of civilians in East Africa, the Horn, and Great Lakes, out of a total of 39 million across Africa.
Irene Ndung'u, RECSA's principal communication officer, attributes this to the lack of trust between communities and governments, particularly in border areas where there is a high concentration of illegal arms.
While governments have been successful in disarming rural populations, urban areas, especially slums, have proven to be a challenge. In these areas, guns are often rented out as a source of income, making it difficult for civilians to surrender their arms.
"The challenge is that the person who owns the weapon is not the sole decision maker whether to surrender it," said Ms Ndung'u. "Questions always arise about if they surrender the guns, what will they use as a source of income, and more so, the owner is not the sole user."
However, there have been some successes, such as in the Karamoja region, where an integrated approach combining development projects with disarmament led to its success, according to George Odongo, a Ugandan member of the East African Legislative Assembly.
