IN AFRICA and elsewhere, the illicit trade in small arms and light
weapons is opaque, amorphous and dynamic. It is also a global
enterprise with illicit weapons across Africa coming from virtually
every major arms producing country in the world. Small Arms
Survey puts the dollar value of the illicit small arms trade at US$1
billion, or 10-20% of the global trade. The clandestine nature of
this trade makes it impossible to confi rm these estimates, but
what is obvious is that in Africa the illicit trade in small arms is
counter-developmental on many levels. What follows is a snapshot
of the sources, the trade, the costs and what must be done.