Huge blast kills 17 at Iran military base
Officials said the blast was an accident which happened as troops were moving munitions at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar, some 45 km (28 miles) west of Tehran.
The explosion shook homes and rattled windows for miles around, at a time of mounting tension with Israel over Iran's nuclear programme.
The OSCE Mission to Moldova has been working with the Moldovan Ministry of Defence on ammunition disposal projects since 2007. The disposal of air bombs in July 2011 was the latest in a series of projects.
The disposal operations are part of the Mission’s efforts on arms control and disarmament, which also aim to promote military transparency and increase trust between the parties to the Transdniestrian conflict.
more info & pictures in the OSCE website
BMS4 : Fourth Biennial Meeting of States
On 14-18 June 2010, representatives of all UN Member States came together in New York to consider implementation of the 2001 Programme of Action on the illicit trade in small arms.
This Fourth Biennial Meeting of States (“BMS4”), was chaired by Ambassador Pablo Macedo from Mexico and included a segment on the International Tracing Instrument, a separate document agreed to by Member States in 2005 on the marking and tracing of small arms. BMS4 was open for NGO participation and press coverage, just as earlier meetings under the Programme of Action.
More info in the Official website
OSCE decision to prevent surplus ammunition falling into wrong hands
VIENNA, 23 March 2011 – The 56 OSCE participating States today adopted a decision that aims to prevent surplus, expired or obsolete conventional ammunition from ending up in the hands of criminal or terrorist groups.
The decision, the first of its kind internationally, recommends destruction as the preferred method of disposal of such ammunition. In addition to preventing illegal trade of the ammunition, destruction also eliminates the risk of injuries or fatalities that could be caused by exploding ammunition.
source: ECOSAP Press Release ( )
Dateline Abuja 4 June 2009
Kaduna hosts ECOWAS Workshop on Stockpile of Arms and Ammunition:
Management and Security
A workshop on Arms Stockpile Management will be held at the Air Force
Institute of Technology in Kaduna, Nigeria from 8-12 June, 2009.
The training which is aimed at building capacity in ECOWAS Members States in
the professional management and security of the stocks of arms and ammunition
in line with current international best-practices is being held under the aegis of the
ECOWAS Commission and financed by the Government of Germany.
During the workshop, presentations will be made on Small Arms and Light
Weapons Proliferation Threat, relevant international/regional frameworks,
agreements such the current state of management of stocks in Member states.
At the end of the workshop participants are expected to have improved skills
in management of stocks through proper record keeping of state arms and
ammunition. They will also be able to prevent accidents arising from poor
management of stockpiles.
Participants are drawn from the armed forces and the police in the english-
speaking ECOWAS Member states namely Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone
and Nigeria
An equivalent training was conducted for the French and Portuguese-speaking
ECOWAS Member states in Bamako, Mali from 11-14 May at l’Ecole de Maintien de
la Paix Alioune Blondin Beye.