Gambia and Mali are set to host cluster meetings on the effective control of small arms and light weapons, from today, June 23 to 24 in Banjul, and from the 29 to 30 in Bamako, Mali.

These two meetings, sponsored by Ecowas, are being organised within the framework of sub-regional initiative, spearheaded by the Ecowas Small Arms Programme (ECOSAP). They aim at identifying armed violence reduction projects in member countries of Ecowas. According to a media release from the WANEP Gambia office, these fora will update, review and plan NATCOM's activities in line with the benchmarks that were set in the work plan. They will also build the skills of participants to improve on narrative report writing, drafting of project proposal and development of activity work plans.

During these sessions, the release added, two participants from NATCOM, the UNDP focal point, one representative from the civil society and staff of ECOSAP will participate. It added that: "in order to give effective technical backstopping to NATCOM and the civil society, ECOSAP had split the Ecowas member states in to four clusters, ABC and D. Cluster A include The Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Guinea Conakry.

Cluster B comprises Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. And cluster C Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Senegal, whilst cluster d include Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo and Nigeria."Although dates are yet to be fixed for the cluster B and D, their meetings are set to be held in Monrovia and Lome respectively, the release concluded.