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By staff reporter
May 4, 2020 (Ezega.com) – The Ethiopian government will begin registering private weapons soon, and institutions and individuals should register their small arms within the next two years, the federal attorney general has said.
“Any party cannot possess, buy, sell, or transfer firearms without the knowledge of the government office, Adanech Abiebie,” the federal attorney general told the state news agency.
Last January, the Ethiopian parliament passed a new firearms administration and control law aimed at curbing gun ownership after an increase in regional ethnic violence is attributed to the proliferation of small arms in private hands.
“Government offices that have the legal right to monitor law enforcement carry out the searches shortly,” Adanech said.
According to the attorney general, institutions or individuals who have licenses for their small arms can no longer carry them unless they re-register based on the new legislation. “Failing to do so, the government will confiscate the firearms.”
The new firearms administration and control law aims to raise awareness of the disadvantages of carrying firearms and to establish confidence among the Ethiopian public that the government is eligible to carry firearms to maintain the peace and security of citizens.
The new law also prohibits carrying what are called silent weapons, such as daggers, swords, knives, spears, blades, and arrows.
Adanech said that nowhere in Ethiopia is licensed to transfer or sell rifles, and therefore those firearm transactions that have been taking place in different parts of the country were illegal, he said.
According to the attorney general, the government will recognize a body that will monitor the transactions and transfer of firearms in the country.
Pursuant to the new law, unless the government agency concerned authorizes otherwise, no party or individual may possess, import, export, accumulate, maintain, use, broker, buy, sell, transfer, smuggle, manufacture, offer training. About the use of firearms, bring sharp materials and goggles that are used on the battlefields.
The law states that members of political parties, people who work in religious institutions, NGOs, and learning institutions cannot possess firearms.
In the past two years, the government has reported the confiscation of thousands of rifles that have been smuggled into the country mainly from Sudan.
The small arms spread was attributed in part to hundreds of killings in various ethnic conflicts in the past two years that have displaced more than 2.7 million people.
“There is a significant number of weapons in society since the previous government and the new law will help us to formalize ownership,” he added.
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