By NATION Reporter

About 8,000 illegal guns are to be destroyed as part of the Government's fight against violent crime.

The guns were recovered from carjackers, bank robbers, muggers and cattle rustlers, among other criminals.

National Security minister Chris Murungaru said the first batch of 1,000 guns would be destroyed tomorrow at a ceremony to be attended by President Kibaki at Nairobi's Uhuru Gardens.

Dr Murungaru told journalists in his Nairobi office that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was working on a project to develop computer software that would enable police to keep more accurate records of their armouries.

He said the bullet factory in Eldoret was a military installation and that the bullets produced there were for Government use.

"The factory is a military installation to serve our internal capacity. Surplus supplies have been to legitimate foreign governments," Dr Murungaru said.

The firearms to be destroyed on Saturday, through the help of experts from the United Nations, are those which have been recovered by law enforcement agencies from bank and highway robbers, carjackers, cattle rustlers and muggers over the last few years.

It requires expertise to destroy firearms since burning alone is not sufficient.
The most commonly used are the AK 47, the Russian Tokalev, the American Colt, Ceska, and the G3 rifle.

Most of those which find their ways into the hands of criminals have been entering the country through porous sections of borders with countries ran by unstable governments.

Notably, the failure of the state of the Republic of Somalia led to the increase of the arms, smuggled into the country by fleeing refugees and escaping warlords.

Experts say that instability in Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and the conflict between the Eritrea and Ethiopia has fuelled the problem.

Dr Murungaru said that Saturday's function will mark the beginning of the destruction of all illicit weapons in custody of the government.

Future destruction of firearms will take place at the provincial level where the illicit weapons were recovered, the minister added.

He revealed that the government was looking to solving the problem of illegal firearms among pastoralist communities by boosting the level of development in their areas of residence.

Some of the worst atrocities committed with firearms acquired illegal means have stemmed from rivalries and vicious fights for water, pastures and livestock.

The Minister said that the department in his office charged with the responsibility of dealing with small arms, would as from March 21 begin a countrywide exercise to assess the impact of small arms and light weapons in the country.

The findings will be followed by a national action plan aimed at ridding the country of illegal firearms.

The team, headed by the immediate former director of the Criminal Investigations Department Francis Sang is known as the Kenya National Focal Point.

The Kenya Focal Point is part of a joint strategy by Kenya Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea.

Representatives from the ten countries held a meeting in Nairobi on March 15, 2000 and agreed to cooperate on the subject to improve security in the region.

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