Small Arms/Light Weapons into Plowshares: A Success Story in Angola

This is a collection of photographs from an ongoing weapons and ammunition disposal project in Angola that is being funded by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. These photos illustrate some typical basic steps the United States is taking around the world to help ensure that excess small arms and light weapons never fall into the hands of criminals, terrorists, or illicit arms traffickers. In Angola alone, an estimated 2 million to 2.5 million excess small arms and light weapons pose such a threat. The particular project illustrated here is being executed under a $447,000 grant from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement to The HALO Trust, a non-governmental organization that specializes in clearing persistent landmines and other explosive remnants of war. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have been funding identical projects in Angola with The HALO Trust.

Step 1:  Work in close cooperation with the host government to assist it to better secure its arms and munitions so that they are safely stored (to prevent theft, illicit trafficking, or a catastrophic explosion), or, if deemed excess to the government’s legitimate defense needs, destroyed. Here, in Huambo, Angola, stacks of AK-47 assault rifles and other light weapons, some voluntarily turned in to the government by former combatants, others from Angolan Army stocks that have been deemed excess to Angola’s legitimate defense needs, are assembled at a secure warehouse in preparation for a destruction project funded by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. The United States is one of approximately 22 countries that assists other countries to better secure or destroy small arms/light weapons, in order to stem international illicit arms trafficking, and is a leader in this regard. To date, the United States has provided over $27.5 million to destroy approximately 900,000 small arms and light weapons and over 80 million pieces of ammunition in 25 countries, a record of assistance unmatched by any other nation. The United States is also working strenuously to prevent Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), often referred to as shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, from being used to harm civil aviation. So far, the United States has succeeded in destroying over 19,000 of these very dangerous weapons in 18 countries. To learn more, see the comprehensive U.S. Department of State fact sheet, "Actions by the United States to Stem the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons." [Photo courtesy of Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

Step 2:  Methodically prepare the weapons to be destroyed. Here, a batch of the assault rifles and light machine guns from that warehouse have been moved outdoors for final inspection, registration, and shredding, in August 2006. [Photo courtesy of Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

Step 3:  Follow strict safety procedures. An Angolan employee of The HALO Trust places the muzzle of an AK-47 assault rifle in a shielded tube to clear it of any possible remaining ammunition before it is processed further. Note the registration table in the background where this weapon will be recorded after it has been rendered 100% cleared. The HALO Trust adheres to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) guidelines on weapons control and safety during such operations. [Photo courtesy of Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

Step 4:  Register the serial numbers and precise type of weapon. This particular AK-47 is carefully recorded by a team of Angolan Army, police, and The HALO Trust personnel. The information will be fed into a database at the Provincial level, and then uploaded to a central database in the capital, Luanda, to track the success of the operation. [Photo courtesy of  Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

Step 5:  Destroy. This assault rifle is being sliced into several small pieces by a special mobile mechanical shearing machine that can cut metal, funded by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement and operated by The HALO Trust. Feeding the weapon into the shears is Deborah Netland, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement’s Program Officer for Angola. Netland also manages this Office’s humanitarian mine action efforts in Angola, which include clearance of persistent landmines and unexploded ordnance, and providing mine risk education to affected populations there. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement endeavors to integrate small arms/light weapons destruction or improved security storage for such arms with humanitarian mine action (which encompasses the clean up of all explosive remnants of war) whenever it is possible to do so. [Photo courtesy of Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

Step 6:  Done! This AK-47, now cut into several pieces, is ready to be melted into scrap metal. Just during the month of June in 2006, this Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement weapons and ammunition destruction project resulted in the destruction of 1,577 light weapons, 34 items of unexploded ordnance (through other safe means), and 786 items of abandoned ordnance. [Photo courtesy of Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

Metamorphosis. At the top, an AK-47 assault rifle that has been cut into pieces by the mechanical shears. It is now ready to be melted into scrap metal. At the bottom, an AK-47 rifle (its curved "banana clip" ammunition magazine has been removed) before it undergoes the same treatment. Neither of these weapons will ever again terrorize Angolan civilians, hinder the restoration of the rule of law in Angola, nor be illicitly trafficked elsewhere where they could be used to harm American soldiers or travelers or the innocent inhabitants of any other country. [Photo courtesy of Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

Much more small arms/light weapons destruction work remains to be done in Angola and other countries. A huge stack of rocket propelled grenade launchers in that same warehouse in Huambo await their final end: destruction by mechanical shears and conversion into valuable scrap metal that will be used for peaceful purposes. [Photo courtesy of The HALO Trust.]