Small arms crisis: Murkomen urges regional unity to end proliferation

Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen hands over Regional Centre on Small Arms and Light Weapons Technical Advisory Committee chairmanship to Tanzania at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi. /June 13, 2025

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has called for stronger regional cooperation to stem the flow of illicit small arms and light weapons.

He warned that their proliferation poses a grave threat to peace, stability and development across the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa.

Speaking on Thursday during the 11th Regional Centre on Small Arms and Light Weapons (RECSA) Council of Ministers meeting at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Murkomen urged member states to deepen collaboration and implement joint interventions to counter the menace.

“The spread of small arms continues to endanger our communities, fuel conflict and undermine the gains we have made in peacebuilding and security,” Murkomen said.

“There is an urgent need to strengthen regional cooperation to effectively tackle this challenge and secure our future.”

The conference coincided with the destruction of more than 6,000 illegal firearms—Kenya's second-largest public burn-off in history.

The exercise was presided over by President William Ruto at the Regional Police Training Centre in Ngong, underlining the government’s resolve to rid the country of illicit arms. 

The firearms, recovered from civilians and criminal gangs over the years, were publicly crushed in a symbolic act of commitment to internal and regional peace and security.

“This is a demonstration that the government will not tolerate illegal firearms in the hands of unauthorised persons,” President Ruto said during the event.

Murkomen praised the symbolic act, saying it sends a strong message across the region.

“Kenya has shown that it is possible to disarm and restore order. We invite our neighbours to take similar decisive actions.”

He emphasised the devastating impact of illicit arms on vulnerable populations, noting that the weapons fuel criminality, cross-border violence, and insecurity, particularly in fragile regions.

The meeting marked the end of Kenya’s two-year rotational chairmanship of the RECSA Council of Ministers, with Rwanda assuming leadership of the Council and Tanzania taking over the Technical Advisory Committee.

Murkomen, who was accompanied by Principal Secretary for Internal Security Raymond Omollo, reaffirmed Kenya’s commitment to the Nairobi Protocol—a regional agreement aimed at preventing the manufacture, trafficking and unauthorised use of small arms and light weapons (SALW).

“The Nairobi Protocol remains a vital framework for collective action, and member states must reaffirm their obligations to its full implementation,” he said.

Present at the meeting were ministers and representatives from Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania. 

The Nairobi meeting closed with member states pledging renewed support for regional arms control efforts and joint cross-border strategies to stem the illicit arms trade.