(Ogunbanwo,contd) Small arms proliferation is not merely a regional problem, germane to Africa, but global in dimension. It is, in the words of UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, “one of the key challenges in preventing conflict in the new century.”  The eminent persons group holds that the Bamako Declaration advancing a Common African Position is an important first step in helping define scope and mandate for the Conference. Small arms control is one issue, on which an Africa united must lead. Within this context, important lessons can be learned from the small arms moratorium of Western African states. As President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali and a most distinguished member of the group states: “the moratorium is not a legal impediment intended to restrict the sovereignty of states, nor reduce their freedom to provide for their own defense. Rather it is an act of faith, demonstrating the irreversible political commitment of our states.” Secretary-General Kofi Annan is right to call for small arms to “be brought under the control of the State, with the State being made accountable for their transfer.” The overall objective of the eminent persons group is to assist in efforts to curtail the proliferation and the unlawful use of small arms. Such an objective will require a constructive parallelism between a whole range of politically and legally binding instruments, involving operative and normative measures pertaining to the illicit as well as the licit trade, which must be dealt with both within the context of conflict prevention and conflict resolution. What the victims of gun violence need urgently today is the immediate “reduction” of such weapons in the most affected regions of the world, and whatever assistance the UN or the donor countries can come up with in this regard. This should be an important objective of the 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms And Light Weapons. I am delighted to note that the Second Preparatory Meeting for the Conference has advanced a workable Plan of Action for the Conference and its aftermath. In the months, ahead, we will have to work, together, to ensure consensus.  The Eminent Persons Group stands ready, in close consultation with members of the Council, the UN Secretariat and interested NGOs, to help in formulating a realistic action agenda aimed at curtailing illicit small arms by confronting the illicit trade. To be successful such an action agenda must center on increased transparency and raised common standards and provide concrete and practical measures on the regional and global levels.