Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

In Brief: Burundians hand in thousands of weapons
04 Nov 2009 09:41:04 GMT
 Source: IRIN

Background

•  Burundi transition

MORE >>
BUJUMBURA, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Civilians across Burundi have handed in thousands of guns, grenades and rounds of ammunition during a 10-day voluntary disarmament campaign.

The deputy head of the national disarmament commission, Leopold Banzubaze, said the campaign had netted 2,482 rifles, 10,429 grenades, 218 bombs, 28 mines and 788,908 bullets. In return, the state handed out goods such as construction materials, furniture, bicycles, farming tools, mobile phones and soap.

Speaking shortly before the campaign's conclusion, the commission's head, Gen. Zénon Ndabaneze, said: "If we add the arms collected in the previous disarmament campaigns and the police house-to-house searches, we can say we have so far collected 80,000 arms. Nearly 80 percent of weapons in circulation have been collected."

Under a decree issued by President Pierre Nkurunziza in August 2009, an amnesty was granted to anyone who surrendered their weapons before the end of October. From now on, possession of arms can lead to hefty fines and jail terms of up to 10 years.

jb/bn/mw

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Emergencies

•  Burundi transition

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Digital revolution comes to Burundi school
WER - UK

•  Albinos under Burundi police protection welcome Napoleon (age 1 week)
IFRC - Switzerland

•  Conventional Weapons Management and Disposal - global update
MAG - UK

•  BURUNDI: MAG provides training for the disarmament campaign
MAG - UK

•  INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS SELECTED AS RECIPIENT OF HENRY SCHEIN CARES DONATIONS
IMC - USA

MORE >>

Latest news

•  In Brief: Burundians hand in thousands of weapons

•  Burundi collects nearly 14,000 weapons in a week

•  The repatriation of 400 Burundians closes a chapter in long-running refugee saga

•  Last Burundians from 1972 exodus leave Tanzania

•  Tanzania: End of repatriation for Burundians from Old Settlements

MORE >>

IRIN news

Background information

Briefings
Burundi transition - [Who works where]

Facts & figures
Burundi
Statistics graphs
GNI per capita (2007)
Chart for GNI per capita
View more stats >>

Related articles

Breaking stories
 In Brief: Burundians hand in thousands of weapons (1 minute ago)

Burundi collects nearly 14,000 weapons in a week (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 AU set to endorse landmark treaty to protect continent's displaced millions (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 Digital revolution comes to Burundi school (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Fleeing from genocide in Burundi (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Global projected land use changes, 1700-2050 (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-10-23T160901Z_01_AFR10_RTRIDSP_2_SOMALIA-CONFLICT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/AFR10.htm

A Somali Islamic militant cleans his weapon at a base in southern Mogadishu October, 23, 2009. Somalia's hardline al Shabaab insurgents said they will strike the capitals of Burundi and Uganda ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Wed Nov 4 09:42:16 2009