Friday 07^th July, UNIC Antananarivo organized a conference about small arms in the centre for the media network to bring awareness to the Small Arms conference to being held in New York. Prior to the UNIC conference, during the month of June and the first week of July, three television stations broadcast a spot on small arms in French and Malagasy and many documents and posters about the conference were distributed to journalists in the capital.

In his address to the participants in the UNIC conference, the National Information Officer explained the objective of the conference to be held in New York and explained the importance of peace in development.

UNIC invited two police officers, the Director of Security and the Chief of the Ant-terrorist Service, from the Ministry of Public Security in order to explain the situation in Madagascar. According to their explanation, there is increasing violence and robbery in the country. Compared to other countries, the danger is not very high for Madagascar related to the proliferation of small arms. The danger is that Madagascar is a big island and it is too difficult for the police of migration to control the coast because of the lack of materials. Only one airport has a scanner.

Madagascar is a place of transit for the sellers, explained one of the officers. They come in the country not to sell the arms but to buy a new passport before going to another country. The small arms usually used by the robbers are craftsman’s arms. The Ministry work with Interpol to fight against terrorists in Madagascar.

After the debate, the spot with Michael Douglas was shown to the public and an information kit was distributed by the UNIC staff. The journalists asked the UNIC National Information Officer to organize another conference about the security in Antananarivo following this debate.