How the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALWs) is fueling conflicts in West Africa

Regional Impact: All of these pose a significant threat to the stability of nations across the sub-region. Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone have ranked domestic craft production as the most significant source of illicit arms in their countries (for Côte d’Ivoire, craft production ranked first together with cross-border flows by land), while Guinea reported illicit cross-border transfers of craft weapons by land to be its main concern. Eric G. Berman, Director of Small Arms Survey says that while, “conventional weapons originate mainly from outside the continent unlicensed craft production, are exclusively continental.” “Each of these flows of illicit small arms comes with…