Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Florquin, Nicolas, Sigrid Lipott, and Francis Wairagu. 2019 ‘Excerpts on Trafficking - Uganda.’ 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
In contrast, smaller-scale ant trafficking can involve a wider variety of actors, often including members of local border communities. Ethnic connections between pastoralist groups across borders facilitate cross-border trafficking: the Turkana of Kenya, Dodoth of Uganda, and Toposa of South Sudan, for instance, have traded arms across the three countries' borders, including AK-pattern and HK G3 rifles, in order to arm themselves to protect their cattle. (p. 41)
While local actors who are involved in ant trafficking in firearms tend do so as a sideline to their main activity of smuggling legal commodities, in some cases, in order to maintain a low profile, criminal syndicates outsource the transport of weapons and drugs to local actors. In the Sahara–Sahel, conflict in Mali and Libya and the subsequent proliferation of armed groups in border areas led to the militarization and increased criminalization of traditional trading routes, which fell under the control of powerful armed actors. Participants in the present study noted that the general population, including migrants and refugees, are sometimes used as 'mules' to transport weapons. For instance, Uganda noted the involvement of women in such trafficking, while in the Central African Republic in 2014 a woman accompanied by her child attempted to smuggle shotgun ammunition from Cameroon in a bag of onions; the ammunition was intended for anti-Balaka militia. (p.42)
The means of transport used by traffickers vary widely. Research has revealed the use of taxi motorbikes (known as 'boda-bodas' in Uganda), personal vehicles, transport trucks, and small boats. Weapons and ammunition have been transported between Burundi and the DRC in both vehicles and boats, for instance, along the Ruzizi River or across Lake Tanganyika. (p. 42)