Iraq, Afghanistan wars hurting bid to destroy surplus arms

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are undermining efforts to destroy surplus weapons by creating new markets for countries to sell their unwanted firearms, according to a survey published here Monday.
Although the world is witnessing "the largest systematic destruction of military small arms and light weapons since the end of World War II," countries that would normally have destroyed their surplus weapons are now being encouraged to export them, the Small Arms Survey 2008 said.
"The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a revolution in the market for second hand weapons," said Aaron Karp, a senior consultant with the Survey.
"We were building up momentum in favour of destruction throughout the early 2000s and that momentum has shifted because of the creation of new export opportunities," he added.
About 750,000 weapons have been sold to security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq since the wars in those countries began in 2001 and 2003 respectively, according to the study.
"500,000 are second hand. They could have been destroyed," Karp said.
Countries supplying these weapons include Serbia, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, who sell their surpluses to fund their militaries.
The weapons usually go to the government of the recipient country to arm police, border guards, and the armed forces.
Karp said Serbia had become the dominant arms supplier to Iraq while Bosnia had become the major supplier to Afghanistan.
"The demand is for exactly what the surplus countries are capable of supplying. Kalashnikovs are the big example: It's all about the Kalashnikov," he added.
The survey defines a surplus as anything more than two firearms per soldier. The United States has 1.1 weapons per soldier while the Czech Republic has 10.
The study said the United States was both helping countries to destroy and export their surplus arms.
"America is totally schizophrenic on small arms," Karp said. "It encourages everyone to destroy their surplus and then it pays them to export their weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan."
About 430,000 excess small arms are destroyed each year, according to the survey, which estimates that out of 200 million military firearms worldwide, at least 76 million are surplus.
The survey said that destroying surplus weapons and ammunition was the only reliable way of guaranteeing control of government arms depots as conflicts in Iraq, Liberia and Sierra Leone were fuelled by a loss of control over weapons stockpiles.
The Small Arms Survey, an annual review of global small arms issues, was set up in 1999.
The agency, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is funded by the Swiss Foreign Ministry and with contributions from the governments of Canada, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Britain.