In a speech before the United Nations Security Council on November 10, representatives of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and Interpol raised the alarm about the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) around the world, with special emphasis on the African continent.
In their presentation, the experts pointed out that illicit small arms and light weapons are fueling a “chain of violence” that transcends national borders, connecting conflicts in different regions of the world, from the Sahel to Haiti. This involves organized crime actors, militias and transnational arms trafficking networks, which makes it difficult to contain them by a single State. They noted that “more than one billion firearms are in circulation around the world.” Furthermore, the speakers recalled that small arms and light weapons not only affect declared conflicts, but also urban violence, organized crime, internal displacement and gender violence.
Many of these weapons come from diversions from state warehouses or the supply chain and, at some point, end up in the hands of non-state armed groups. This practice has a special impact in Africa and generates a lot of tension, to the point that experts stated that the proliferation of small arms and light weapons is “a cancer that drives instability on the continent.”
One of the most important points of the statement was the reference to so-called “ghost guns”. These are untraceable, privately manufactured weapons, often produced with 3D printers, readily available parts or unfinished frames that lack serial numbers. Because they are unregistered, and often assembled outside formal supply chains, they bypass traditional arms control and tracing systems, such as the United Nations Firearms Protocol or the database Interpol iARMS.
While Africa has long suffered from the influx of conventional small arms and light weapons from conflict zones, ghost weapons introduce a new layer of complexity. 3D technology is increasingly accessible in areas of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, where digital fabrication laboratories (FabLabs) and spaces operate with minimal supervision.
A FabLab (short for “fabrication laboratory”) is a digital production workshop open to the public where people can design and manufacture physical objects using computer-controlled tools. A space (also known as a makerspace) is a collaborative place where people can learn, design and build things using technological and manual tools.
Online marketplaces and dark web forums allow you to share CAD drawings for gun parts and tutorials for making them at home. Transnational and diaspora criminal networks may smuggle unfinished receivers or kits through legitimate commercial channels, then assemble them locally.
Clearly, the proliferation of ghost guns in Africa has serious consequences for security on the continent and undermines existing arms control frameworks, as they evade serial number tracking, making forensic tracking of weapons virtually impossible. Likewise, it allows insurgents, militias and criminal groups to arm themselves cheaply and clandestinely. It complicates demobilization and disarmament (DDR) efforts for combatants in post-conflict regions, as ghost weapons blur the lines between legal and illegal weapons. And it also increases the risk of urban crime and political violence, especially in countries with weak and corrupt law enforcement.
Experts on the subject point to some examples and early indicators in Africa of the consequences of the proliferation of ghost weapons. For example, in South Africa, police have reported incidents of homemade or 3D printed firearms recovered in gang-related crimes in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The North West and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria have seen an increase in locally manufactured weapons, some of which are suspected to include imported ghost gun components. Across North Africa, criminal networks linked to human trafficking, illicit drug trafficking and other goods are reported to be experimenting with homemade weapons production to evade border controls.
This trend is intertwined with the already existing “chain of violence” in Africa: ongoing conflicts in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes region, the Central African Republic or northern Mozambique, not to mention disputes between pastoralist and peasant groups, drive the demand for small arms. The phenomenon of ghost weapons facilitates access to armed actors, which could fuel new micro-conflicts and strengthen criminal groups. Contributing to all of this is the weakness of regulatory frameworks, limited investigative capacity and the lack of digital knowledge among law enforcement agencies, which makes arrest and, above all, prevention extremely difficult.
Ultimately, the proliferation of ghost weapons represents a new frontier in the African security landscape, fusing digital technology, organized crime and conflict dynamics. If left unaddressed, it risks undermining decades of international progress in arms control, turning the continent’s existing arms problem into an epidemic of undetectable violence.
