Weapons that are pouring into Ukraine amidst hostilities should be traced to prevent them from resurfacing in African countries, Kassoum Coulibaly, Burkina Faso's Minister of Defense, told Sputnik Africa in an exclusive interview.
The minister voiced hope that every option at Burkina Faso’s disposal would be utilized to achieve this goal.
"We hope that [...] we'll be able to use all the available resources to trace and track the weapons that are being dumped in Ukraine, so that they don't end up in our countries," Coulibaly said.
The minister explained the relevance of the issue by saying that the weapons going into Ukraine will not be used up and expressed doubt that they will be recovered after the end of hostilities.
"Is there a DDR [Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration] plan for this? We don't see that," Coulibaly remarked.
According to the defense chief, the uncertain fate of weapons in Ukraine is little talked about by the public, with most focus on the contracts for the country's post-conflict reconstruction.
The solution is, as Coulibaly pointed out, to recover the weapons pumped into Kiev and progressively dismantle them. Such a strategy should be pursued by international organizations, first and foremost by the United Nations.
"Let people recover the weapons that have been dumped and start destroying them along the way," the minister noted. "That's the best idea, and it has to be one of the future action plans of all organizations, but, especially the UN."
Moscow has repeatedly cautioned that the armaments the West is flooding Ukraine with are ending up on the black market and in the hands of criminal elements, and then moving around the world.
Alain Tribert Mutabazi, Burundi's minister of national defense, has previously pointed out that there is a risk of weapons supplied to Ukraine spreading to African countries, as such deliveries of various weapons to Kiev are unregulated and in breach of international laws.