The effort to fight against Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) across ECOWAS member states has brought to play this strategic meeting of heads of national commissions (COMNAT) in Lomé the capital city of Togo to discuss the rationale behind the implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty in the region
Aimed at establishing a harmonized national control list to effectively implement this Arms Treaty to boost the security of member states.
Speaking during the opening conference the Deputy Director of UNREC, Dr. Jiaming Miao, commended the ECOWAS Commission for dealing with the numerous operational constraints while sustaining the interventions in promoting disarmament and arms control in the region.
Dr. Miao further pledged the UNREC commitment to support the ECOWAS region to meet its obligations under the ATT and the ECOWAS Convention.
Earlier, the Director of the ATT Secretariat, Mr. Dladla Dumisani, stressed their unwavering support towards the actualization of the universalization of the Treaty and the implementation at the national level.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security of the ECOWAS Commission, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah, represented by Dr. Sani Adamu, Programme Officer, Disarmament and Arms Control, noted that the ECOWAS Commission is working assiduously towards ensuring global best practices to enable the proper control and management of arms in the sub-region.
In his opening remarks, the Vice-President of the COMNAT of the Togolese Republic, Inoussa Bouraima, reviewed that the ATT is an essential instrument that provides a transparent mechanism to regulate the global transfer of conventional arms and prevent illicit traffic.
The meeting had in attendance representatives from the government partners, expertise France, Saferworld, Halo Trust, and GIZ as experiences were shared in the field of SALW control.
