Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Florquin, Nicolas, Sigrid Lipott and Francis Wairagu. 2019 ‘Excerpts on Illicit/Craft Production - Somalia.’ Weapons Compass: Mapping Illicit Small Arms Flows in Africa, pp. 47-59. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 January
Relevant contents
CAR reported the proliferation of Turkish-made semi-automatic shotguns and convertible blank-firing pistols manufactured between 2012 and 2016 on black markets or in the context of weapons seizures in northern Somalia, northern Niger, and northern/south-eastern Nigeria. The weapons observed in Somalia and Nigeria matched the specific types/models of weapons that were intercepted in 2017 as part of large illicit maritime shipments to each country. (pp. 47-49)
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)