The first-ever civilian weapons store in Somalia
Format News and Press Release SourcePosted5 Feb 2014 Originally published5 Feb 2014 OriginView original
by Elimam Hassan, Community Liaison Manager, MAG Somalia
MAG has responded to the rising number of accidents involving guns in the village of Kalabayr, by building the first-ever armoury in Somalia that allows civilians to safely store their weapons.
Almost every family owns a gun in Kalabyr, and this has led to tragedy: on one occasion, a teenage boy shot and killed his friend while the pair were playing with their fathers' weapons; in another sad incident, a child pulled the trigger on the gun his father was carrying and killed him.
The thing is, residents don’t actually need weapons in the village – they only need them for self-defence when out in the countryside, herding their animals – but they didn’t have anywhere other than their homes, or shops, to put them.
In the course of our community safety and security work, which sees MAG addressing the challenges of armed violence and explosive weapons within communities, we were asked to build an armoury, so that the community and police could safely store their weapons.
Work began in October and the completed weapons store (pictured at the top of the page) – built next to the police station at one of the entrances to the village – was opened in December.
Police Chief, Abdiqadir Elmi Mohamed, told us: "Now, we have had a safe and secure place for the villagers’ weapons, as well as a safe place for ours."
"If anyone wants to stay in the village, they will need to hand in their weapon first. This will help us and keep us safe. People have been very worried so this is a very good thing."
MAG also provided training to ensure the weapons are stored safely.
About Kalabyr
Kalabayr, a village in the Nugaal region on the border with Ethiopia, has been affected by small arms and light weapons (SALW) and explosive remnants of war (ERW) for more than four decades.
The village was caught up in the Ethiopia-Somalia War that took place between 1977 and 1978, as well as the Ethiopia-Somalia Border War in 1982, when Somali rebels supported by the Ethiopian military invaded central Somalia and captured several towns.
Kalabayr has also been a target of armed conflicts between the various militia groups since 1988.
• MAG’s “Community Safety and Security” project is currently funded by the UK Government’s Africa Conflict and Prevention Pool (ACPP) and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA).
