For generations, in the eyes of many outsiders,
the continent and the gun often seemed
synonymous: a corner of the globe in turmoil,
a danger zone armed to the teeth, roiled by
anarchy or imprisoned by police states. And
the gun that enabled both afflictions: the
AK-47.
What is its story in Africa - this machine gun,
the Kalashnikov?
It is a crude but effective killing machine
consisting of some dozen moving parts.
(Depending on the model.) Weight: roughly ten
pounds. Easy enough for a child to operate.
(Hence the child soldier.) At least 70 million in
circulation around the world - millions of which
have cluttered Africa.
In the desolate Afar Triangle of Ethiopia, where
warrior traditions of cattle raiding endure, the
Russian-designed rifle is everywhere. It is a
brute symbol of power, independence, and
control in a very tough neighborhood. Walking
through the arid region, you can see it in the
hands of census takers, county administrators,
prepubescent goat herders, and milky-eyed old
men.
Africa is on the ascendant. It is home to six of
ten fastest-growing economies in the world.
Despite its old and shallow stereotype of
instability, the continent is more peaceful today
than any time since decolonization. And yet its
demon gun persists.
Why? The answer is - Reinfection.
East and West funneled countless AKs into the
continent during the Cold War. Countries such
as China and the Ukraine continue to hawk their
stockpiles here even today. (The biggest arms
salesman on the globe, by a long shot, is the
United States - but not to Africa.)
And because the rifle is nearly indestructible, it
continues to resurface, to sicken, to enfeeble the
rule of law. In Mozambique many of these guns
were collected and melted down at extraordinary
costs. (Some were shaped by artisans into
monuments.)
In Sierra Leone, peacekeepers wished to dump
them into the sea - but environmentalists
objected. So they laboriously blew them up and
buried the fragments. Even so, some people dug
up AK's shards and re-used them.
Africa grows stronger. But it can still relapse
from the pox of the gun.