"The trading of arms is disgusting and contributes to horrors around the world."
Madeline Albright
New York Times Magazine
September 22, 1996

Almost exactly two years later, on September 24, 1998, Secretary of State Madeline Albright delivered a speech to the UN Security Council Ministerial on Africa. Sadly, although there were some successes for Albright to commend, the global arms trade continues to leave victims in its wake. At the UN, Albright’s remarks reflected a focus on small arms and light weapons, outlining new proposals for transparency and control of these deadly arms.

Albright began her speech by recognizing that progress has been made in several African countries that had been ravaged by conflict for several years. However, Albright emphasized that there was still much work to be done and that several countries, such as Angola and Congo, are on a dangerous path to renewed violence and war. "From the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and from Africa’s western coast to its southern highlands, countries which had begun to recover from strife are being swept back into it; societies which were beginning to rebuild are seeing their labors lost; and governments which had moved toward democracy are retreating into tyranny," said Albright.

Realizing that advances in Africa to end civil wars and reduce violence were the responsibility not only of the affected individual countries but also of UN Member States, Albright praised those efforts attempting to reduce the proliferation of small arms and light weapons throughout the region. The working group led by Japan has correctly singled out an area where the international community could quickly make a great deal of difference: the uncontrolled flow of arms, ammunition and explosives into Africa’s tensest areas. "This dirty business fuels conflict, fortifies extremism, and destabilizes entire regions," Albright remarked.

Albright specifically mentioned the role of weapons supplier nations in solving the problems of Africa. "All of us whose nations sell such weapons, or through whose nations the traffic flows, bear some responsibility for turning a blind eye to the destruction they cause. And all of us have it in our power to do something in response," Albright said. In terms of a U.S. response, Albright suggested nine policy prescriptions for Africa in her speech.

1. Commit to full and timely disclosure of all arms shipments into regions of conflict.

2. Seek to build international support over the next six months for a voluntary moratorium on arms sales that could fuel interconnected conflicts.

3. Encourage governments and international and non-governmental organizations to meet to exchange information on regional arms transfers and explore future steps to deal with these weapons.

4. Urge UN Member States with relevant expertise to prepare programs strengthening the capacity of African governments to monitor and interdict arms flows.

5. Develop a clearinghouse for technical information and for rapid exchange of data on possible violations within the UN system.

6. Encourage Member States that do not have national legislation enforcing sanctions and penalizing violations to strive to enact such legislation.

7. Complete, by the year 2000, talks and negotiations under UN auspices on a convention based on the OAS Convention on Illicit Weapons Trafficking.

8. Establish a target date of 2000 to restrict the export of shoulder-fired missiles.

9. Establish an international center to collect and share information on arms transfers.

Albright’s comments were especially noteworthy because it was the first time such recommendations had been made in a comprehensive package in an international forum. The U.S. government has recently begun to recognize the growing problems small arms and light weapons have caused and are looking at ways they can participate in the growing movement to control these weapons. The Administration has even begun a series of informal meetings with members of non-governmental organizations to increase the dialogue on the small arms issue.

As such, Albright’s recommendations for policies that can be undertaken by the United States and other UN Member States are welcome. However, several of the points lack specificity and allow for ambiguity in discussing viable policy solutions. As the number one arms supplier in the world, the U.S. has a large role to play and should be a leader in developing policy options for dealing with small arms.

The U.S. government must carefully establish a plan of action and a way forward for dealing with the massive proliferation and violent use of these weapons. In relying on lofty pronouncements and not providing specific tactics to "do something in response" to the destruction these weapons cause, the U.S. finds itself lagging behind the rest of the world in clearly defining its role in the building momentum to grapple with the problems presented by small arms. The U.S. government must focus on the legal trade in small arms and begin to implement policies that reflect U.S. accountability for its role in contributing to deadly conflicts around the world.