African countries did had the right to obtain weapons for reasons of national security and policing. Switzerland had offered to hold a conference in Geneva on illegal arms traffic and there were negotiations in Vienna on the elaboration of an international convention against transnational organised crime, including a protocol to combat illicit manufacturing and trafficking in firearms. The Council commended African initiatives to address the problem of arms flows, uch as in Mali and Mozambique, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).