Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Florquin, Nicolas, Sigrid Lipott, and Francis Wairagu. 2019 ‘Excerpts on Trafficking - Ghana.’ Weapons Compass: Mapping Illicit Small Arms Flows in Africa, pp. 42-59. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 January
Relevant contents
…weapons originating from Ivorian stockpiles have been recovered in a range of countries in the Sahel, and possibly as far as the Central African Republic, while weapons originating from Malian stockpiles have also found their way elsewhere in the Sahel. Ghana reported a case related to the 14 December 2015 seizure of a cache of firearms and ammunition in Kumasi, which included 21 weapons (including 11 AK-pattern rifles) and 9,450 rounds of ammunition of various calibres. Five of the AK-pattern rifles had ECOWAS markings on them that enabled the Ghanaian authorities to quickly determine that the weapons had been recently diverted from Côte d'Ivoire, which the Ivorian authorities confirmed in response to a tracing procedure. (p. 51)
The proliferation of readily convertible imitation firearms was initially particularly significant in Northern Africa, and notably in Libya, where both merchants and end users, including armed groups, are converting them. Major shipments of readily convertible alarm weapons were intercepted from Turkey in or on their way to Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan. This included the previously mentioned seizure of no less than 25,000 Turkish alarm pistols in 2017 at the Port of Kismayo, Somalia. From these locations they appear to have been smuggled by land and seized in converted form in a range of neighbouring countries, including in Kenya, Niger, and Somalia. Other Small Arms Survey inquiries have revealed the circulation of imitation handguns in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, and Zimbabwe. (pp. 58-59)