MAG and CWMD - MAG uses the term Conventional Weapons Management and Disposal (CWMD) to more accurately reflect the range of munitions it encounters in support of stockpile management, as in many of its projects items outside of the SALW definition are dealt with, such as aircraft bombs, large calibre artillery, mortar ammunition and rockets. MAG is currently undertaking CWMD projects in Burundi, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Republic of Congo (RoC), Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan. Also MAG is providing CWMD technical support to the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA) in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region.
Burundi
MAG is working to reduce the conventional weapons (CW) threat in Burundi through weapons and ammunition destruction and through ensuring safe storage of weapons and ammunition currently stored at the Military Logistics Base in Bujumbura, in cooperation with the Burundian Army (FDN). MAG has also established a mobile SALW destruction team in partnership with the Burundian Police (PNB). The mobile SALW team is currently surveying police weapons stores throughout Burundi to support implementation of the Nairobi Protocol Articles 6, 7 and 8.
During the months of November and December 2008 MAG continued its CWMD activities in close cooperation with the Burundian Army and Burundian Police. In November a total of 18,482 ammunition items were destroyed. Besides 2026 weapons were destroyed at the destruction workshop at the military logistics base. A McIntyre 4000 shears funded by UNDP is now operational, increasing the yield of destruction. In December 2008 the weapons destruction workshop reached its highest destruction output so far with a total of 1722 weapons destroyed in less than 3 operational weeks. Moreover, 5 soldiers and 3 policemen were trained on the job in SAA burning and a total of 66,169 SAA were destroyed.
The PNB mobile SALW team continued to collect surplus / obsolete weapons and ammunition seized by the police across the country. The survey of the PNB armouries advanced further with the assessment teams visiting armouries in the regions South and West. The three main survey objectives are: assessment of the quantity and quality of weapons and ammunition held by the police, assessment of armouries / weapons facilities and assessment of the level of knowledge in terms of weapons management among the police forces. The preliminary conclusions of the survey were presented to donors and Burundian authorities, who expressed interest in MAG's proposed solutions to reduce the leakage of police-owned weapons before the elections of 2010, with the objective of limiting potential electoral violence.