The World Council of Churches, in co-operation with FECCIWA, hosted a consultation on small arms in West Africa in Abokobi, near Accra, Ghana from November 25-29, 2002. Representatives and experts from twelve West African countries and a variety of concerned organizations were invited to attend and share their experiences and ideas.

The primary aim of the conference was to provide churches and ecumenical organizations an opportunity to contribute to the development of a regional plan of action to tackle armed violence and the unlawful use of small arms throughout the region.

West Africa has suffered greatly from the proliferation of small arms, especially in countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea where armed conflicts have been particularly violent, and more recently in the armed uprising in the Ivory Coast. However the region has also repeatedly shown its commitment to defeating the social scourge effected by the proliferation of small arms, including the implementation of a moratorium on small arms in 1998 and a related code of conduct in 1999 and the recent formation of a West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA). Ecumenical organizations within the region have been instrumental in providing pressure and resources towards goals of curbing the small arms problem.

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