NAIROBI, May 14 (Xinhuanet) --Illicit arms are one of the major
factors causing insecurity in Kenya and the Great Lakes and Horn
of Africa region., the Kenyan Foreign Ministry said here Tuesday.
   Speaking when opened a meeting of the Kenya National Focal
Point, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation Peter Odoyo said the Kenyan government is prepared to
introduce effective controls of illicit small arms and stiffer
penalties against offenders of the country's Fire Arms Act.
   The two-day workshop have drawn participants from the office of
the president, the Kenya police, Kenya army, foreign ministry,
Kenya wildlife service, national security intelligence service,
and private arms investigators. 
   According to Odoyo, the United Nations task force on a fact
finding mission on the problems of proliferation of illicit small
arms and light weapons had already completed its report on the
issue.
  The proliferation of illegal arms into Kenya also caused damage
to kenya's economy, particularly through loss of confidence by
investors due to insecurity, he said.
   As a result of signing the Nairobi Declaration on the problems
of the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons last
year by foreign ministers from the Great Lakes region, the Kenyan
government had formed an operational National Focal Point to deal
with the menace.
   Presidential amnesties had also been extended from time to time
to encourage voluntary surrender of illicit arms, he said.
   The assistant minister disclosed that Kenya would soon burn
about 30,000 surrendered arms valued at over 200 million shillings
(about 2.56 million U.S. dollars) in a bid to win investors'
confidence.
   Chairman of the workshop Peter Kimanthi said in the opening
session that the Kenyan government's amnesty was still in force,
and urged those who still possessed illegal arms to surrender them.
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