Division 1.1 Background

The lack of effective PSSM, in accordance with international standards, in existing conventional arms and ammunition depots in the Sahel has been recognised as posing a serious challenge to peace and security in the region and beyond. In the recent past, government-owned stockpiles in Libya and Mali have been looted by armed non-State actors, including terrorist groups. There is a concrete risk that a similar situation may occur in parts of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria, as armed groups and terrorist groups operate across borders and are involved in the illicit trade in SALW. Inadequate PSSM of weapons and ammunition increases the risk of diversion — including through theft and attack — to the illicit market as well as unplanned explosions at munitions sites. This could lead to a destabilising accumulation of and trafficking in SALW, affecting national, regional and international peace and security.

This threat is also recognised in the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, which deems it necessary to minimise the risk of the diversion of SALW to non-State actors, by increasing the security of existing stockpiles and, if necessary, relocating them, as well as destroying surplus or illicit SALW and ammunition. This can be done by effectively implementing the UN Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in SALW and the International Tracing Instrument using the International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS) as well as the International Ammunition Technical Guidelines (IATG), developed in the framework of the United Nations.