Zambia Air Force Commander Lt.Gen. Eric Chimese says Zambians possessing illegal weapons should hand them over to the State without worrying about being prosecution.

Speaking during the end of the Special Technical Committee on Defence, Security and Safety held in Addis Ababa where he represented the Zambian government, Lt. Gen Chimese said no country could attain meaningful development if it did not strengthen its State institutions.

In a statement issued by Zambia’s First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the High Commission in Ethiopia Inutu Mwanza, Lt. Gen Chimese further said eliminating conflict on the African continent was one sure way of attaining the much needed development on the continent, through peace and unity.

He said Zambia fully supports the “silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020” programme which was initiated by the the African Union.

During Last year’s AU summit, President Edgar Lungu Presented a report on Silencing the guns in Africa and underscored some of the measures that the government had put in place to reduce conflict.

But Lt. Gen Chimese said the Zambian Defense Force and Security was taking the call by AU to silence guns seriously, including the continental amnesty programme for voluntary handover of illegal arms.

He urged Zambians possessing illegal weapons to hand them over to the State assuring them that they will not be questioned or held liable to prosecution.

And Lt.Gen Chimese said Africa was now ready for the operationalisation of the Africa Stand by Force.

He said the Defence and Security Chiefs who met in Addis Ababa agreed that Africa needed to resolve its own conflicts using African solutions.