Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Pézard, Stéphanie and Nicolas Florquin. 2007 ‘The DRC - Arms from the DRC in Burundi.’ Small Arms in Burundi: Disarming the Civilian Population in Peacetime, p. 23. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva / Ligue Iteka. 1 August
Relevant contents
The DRC - Arms from the DRC in Burundi
[DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo]
Large numbers of arms and ammunition still in Burundi were obtained during the war in the DRC.
Many Burundian armed groups used the DRC as a rear base. It was easy for them to obtain arms there, particularly through various armed Congolese groups. In certain cases, the arms were simply leased from other fighting groups in the Congo in order to be used in Burundi, in exchange for palm oil or rice.
The Burundian rebels also obtained arms in exchange for cows stolen in Burundi; these could be exchanged against Kalashnikovs. Sometimes the mere threat of theft was sufficient; the farmers preferred to give the rebels money or arms equivalent to a few cows, to prevent them from plundering the whole herd.
The members of the CNDD–FDD also recovered arms abandoned by deserters from the Congolese army, or obtained them from soldiers who, not having been paid, were willing to exchange their arms for other goods.
Finally, they benefited from the fact that the DRC, unlike Burundi, manufactures arms industrially.
[CNDD = National Council for the Defence of Democracy; FDD = Forces for the Defence of Democracy]
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