http://www.voanews.com/english/2004-12-28-voa43.cfm, It is estimated there are some 30 million handguns and other small arms in sub-Saharan Africa, with the vast majority of them in the hands of civilians rather than soldiers. So widespread are the weapons that they can pose threats to governments in addition to societies.
Some 200,000 people across Africa are believed to be killed every year as a result of what experts say is the virtually uncontrolled spread of small weapons. The United Nations has defined small weapons as guns, grenade launchers and portable anti-tank and aircraft weapons and missiles, generally any firearm that can be used or transported by a single person.
The abundance of such firearms helps fuel everything from terrorism to urban crime, which in big cities like Abidjan, Nairobi and Johannesburg has long outpaced the ability of law enforcement to contain it. Excluding the threat of war and the spread of AIDS, violence associated with the high number of available weapons poses one of the biggest threats to society in some African countries.
“The problem I think is at the beginning, you're dealing with very fragile institutions and when you throw in this access to weapons, which is essentially access to power, they can become a significant challenge to the government,
