By Hardson Olwa

CIVIL society organisations have been urged to support the control of illicit small arms that have been in circulation as a result of the war by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.

The Lira deputy resident district commissioner, Godfrey Alima, said this at a workshop organised by the Uganda Action Network on Small Arms in Lira on Saturday.

“The intervention of different personalities to encourage people to return their guns would help in security of the people who are returning to the villages.”

Alima added that revolvers, self-loading pistols, carbina sub-machine guns and rifles are thought to be in the custody of communities that have been affected by the LRA activities.

The group’s coordinator, Richard Mugisha, said the civil society had not taken the issue of the illegal small arms to the UN Security Council for intervention.
He added that several councillors from Kumi, Karamoja, Mbale and Lwakaka towns had been trained to monitor the movement of illegal arms.

“We shall co-operate with other military personnel to ensure that the law on small arms is introduced,” Mugisha affirmed.

Uganda is working on a new comprehensive firearms policy to replace the current Firearms Act, which will soon be tabled in Parliament.

Analysts say laws to control illegal trafficking of small arms across East Africa should be harmonised to make them more effective.