Steven Mace
03-12-2002, 12:52 AM
Disarming begins in nation ruled by guns
IAN BRUCE
PROVINCE chiefs appointed by the interim Afghan government have begun the painful process of trying to disarm a population in which guns are regarded as both symbols of manhood and essential for personal security.
After three decades of continuous war, the UN estimates that there are two assault rifles or machine-guns for every five men, women and children in the country - the equivalent of Britain being flooded with 22 million military-grade firearms.
In Kandahar, the spiritual home and main stronghold of the deposed Taliban regime, local police have collected or confiscated 60,000 pieces of lethal hardware, ranging from the ubiquitous AK47 rifle to grenade launchers, mortars and anti-aircraft missiles since January.
They began by appealing for a voluntary handover, but have now resorted to searching vehicles at roadblocks and paying informers to reveal the whereabouts of arms. In the neighbouring Helmand province, to the west of Kandahar, no effort has yet been made to relieve local tribesmen of their weapons.
Much of the hinterland is controlled by former militiamen-turned-bandits and the local authorities do not yet have the military muscle to enforce a ban on weapons.
Most of the warlords who run the outlying provinces are keen to disarm the general population, though their motives for doing so vary.
To some, it is a chance to concentrate power in the hands of their own private armies. Others see it as a useful ploy to undermine potential rivals or short-circuit the means for revolt against their rule.
Yunus Qanooni, interior minister of the interim government in Kabul, favours a cash-for-guns exchange scheme he has costed at £140m to encourage civilians to hand in their firearms rather than a probably unenforceable policy of confiscating illicit weapons.
-March 11th
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/11-3-19102-0-40-18.html
Steve Mace
IAN BRUCE
PROVINCE chiefs appointed by the interim Afghan government have begun the painful process of trying to disarm a population in which guns are regarded as both symbols of manhood and essential for personal security.
After three decades of continuous war, the UN estimates that there are two assault rifles or machine-guns for every five men, women and children in the country - the equivalent of Britain being flooded with 22 million military-grade firearms.
In Kandahar, the spiritual home and main stronghold of the deposed Taliban regime, local police have collected or confiscated 60,000 pieces of lethal hardware, ranging from the ubiquitous AK47 rifle to grenade launchers, mortars and anti-aircraft missiles since January.
They began by appealing for a voluntary handover, but have now resorted to searching vehicles at roadblocks and paying informers to reveal the whereabouts of arms. In the neighbouring Helmand province, to the west of Kandahar, no effort has yet been made to relieve local tribesmen of their weapons.
Much of the hinterland is controlled by former militiamen-turned-bandits and the local authorities do not yet have the military muscle to enforce a ban on weapons.
Most of the warlords who run the outlying provinces are keen to disarm the general population, though their motives for doing so vary.
To some, it is a chance to concentrate power in the hands of their own private armies. Others see it as a useful ploy to undermine potential rivals or short-circuit the means for revolt against their rule.
Yunus Qanooni, interior minister of the interim government in Kabul, favours a cash-for-guns exchange scheme he has costed at £140m to encourage civilians to hand in their firearms rather than a probably unenforceable policy of confiscating illicit weapons.
-March 11th
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/11-3-19102-0-40-18.html
Steve Mace