Congo destroys 800,000 weapons in 30 months

Munitions experts working in the Republic of Congo have destroyed more than 878,000 weapons in two and a half years, the British Mines Advisory Group (MAG) organisation announced yesterday.

Frederic Martin, director of an MAG programme on destroying conventional arms and managing stocks and reserves, presented journalists with a report on the destruction of 878,003 weapons between June 2007 and December 2009.

MAG, a non-governmental organisation founded in 1989, reported that the arms destroyed ranged "from light infantry weapons to artillery and mortars, air-borne bombs, rockets, air-to-air missiles, ground-to-air missiles, anti-personnel mines, and grenades." The operation covered the two main towns, the capital Brazzaville in the southeast and the oil hub and economic capital of Pointe-Noire in the southwest, as well as five regions of the country.

The programme, which cost $1.8 million (€1.3 million), was financed by the US State Department.