State House, Banjul, 22ndOctober 2018
State House, Banjul, 22nd October 2018 – His Excellency the President of the Republic, Adama Barrow, on Monday, received the ECOWAS report on assessment of weapons and small arms in the country, following the departure of former President Yahya Jammeh.
The exercise, which was conducted by the sub-regional group in 2017, was headed by a team of specialists from Small Arms Division of ECOWAS, Mining Action Group, Bonn International Centre (BICC), the Defense and Security Advisor of ECOWAS to The Gambia, and the Commander of the regional peacekeeping force in The Gambia – ECOMIG.
The ECOWAS Special Envoy to The Gambia Mrs. Vabah Gayflor who led the team to State House explained that the exercise was necessary to ensure that the status and situation of weapons and ammunition in the country are known.
“We knew there was a lot of small arms proliferation. We also know that it requires technical expertise to manage all of that and the infrastructure that is in place to make sure the country was safe,” she maintained.
Mrs. Gayflor said ECOWAS partnered with the German group, BICC, which specializes in controlling arms and supporting disarmament, to conduct this exercise.
Following the closed-door presentation, the Minister of Interior, Hon. Ebrima Mballow explained to the State House media corps that the exercise was conducted to document the stockpile of weapons and ammunition in The Gambia, after the fall of the former regime.
“Today, we are here to witness the presentation of the report to the Head of State concerning where these weapons are, their nature and capacity. The assessment team had done their work judiciously to compile a comprehensive report for the government,” he concluded.
