According to BBC news- the UN disarmament officials are trying to reduce weapons trade in Africa because of the big money loss Africa has suffered due to the wars and conflicts going on all over the continent. The continent as a whole has lost $18,000,000,000 as a whole and will continue losing massive amounts of money if nothing is done about this.
Would you sign the treaty to reduce weapons trade to Africa?
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I think it's a great idea, but would not necessarily work out in reality. There are people who would do anything to get weapons to continue their wars and genocides and signing a treaty is not going to make them stop.
i think it would be a geat idea to reduce arm traffiking. (sorry if i spelled that wrong). it would help africa truely, and hopefully stop the wars going on there.
of course i would sign this treaty. i don't think it means the wars and genocide and horrible things over there would stop, although i do have a bit of faith. i hope more attention is payed there from more powerful countries, we need to step it up a bit.
The signing of the treaty would be good money wise, but as for the war and genocide going on there it is likely to continue because the weapons and arms being used to fight them are more than likely recieved through a different source.
I don't really see the point in the paragraph why it should be done. If they want to fight, they will find another weapons, even using bricks and sticks... Or even worse - buy weapons from Asian countries, with lower prices and more dangerous consequences.
signing a treaty might look good from a foreign policy standpoint, so it shows that the U.N. Is attempting to make a difference in a poverty-and-war-stricken continent by signing an order banning all weapons trade to Africa. However, the weapons being used in these wars are most likely illegally obtained through the black market, just as the Ugandan rebels illegally obtained the "invisible children" to fight in their war by kidnapping them in the night. Therefore, as good as the treaty looks on paper, I do not think it can truly stop war in Africa.
-- Edited by patrickisoverrated at 07:28, 2008-09-04
This treaty sounds good to me. Maybe people will stop making money off of the trade, and earn money by doing services that will benefit their region like farming or being doctors or teachers.
I would sign it, it sounds like a good idea. Though I agree with everyone who has said that even though there would be fewer weapons, people would STILL find a way to get some. The fighting in Africa is out of control, I think we have gone beyond the point of there being a simple solution to the whole mess.
i think that the signing of a treaty is useless unless it will actually take diplomatic action and change the way things are. ESPECIALLY when it comes to a place thats so war-torn like africa, so i would not sign a treaty that would clearly just look good on the evening news, and not make any difference towards the problem at hand, which is exactly wat this treaty would do, because no matter how limited their supply of weapons is, they will still kill, and be killed, just by more primative means(clubs, fists, etc...), and also they are dealing with warlords, if they cant find a way to buy weapons leagally, they will just as easily do it illegally.
I agree with Scott. If there was teeth behind the treaty, then I would sign it. However, as it stands the treaty is completely useless. Anything without funding or a reasonable plan of action is going to get anything completed. It will just look nice from a foreign policy standpoint. When someone has a way of truly solving the horrors in Africa, I will be absolutely ready to do whatever I can to make a difference. I just don't believe this treaty is it.
It would be a great idea to stop weapon supply into Africa. Though African countries will still find ways to get them. Anything to slow the civil war and genocide that is ongoing in their country. It will also put some relief on the nation, to continue the relief on starving children, disease ect.
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