The Northern Police Command is considering its options after a deadline for turning-in weapons has expired. The Northern Regional Minister gave an ultimatum to residents of the region to voluntarily turn in their weapons. But the directive did not receive any response from the public forcing the regional police command to consider other options. The Northern Regional Crime Officer, Peter Baba told Joy News the failure to surrender weapons necessitated the adoption of other measures. He said the police command was waiting for directives from the minister to act. A security analyst, Mr. Emmanuel Bombande said he was not surprised the directive didn’t receive any positive response. For him, light weapons are not the cause of violence in the northern parts of the country. Weapons, he said, are only tools used to express the violence and until the actual causes of the violence are identified and dealt with, people will continue to cling onto their weapons. He stressed the need to go beyond confiscation of weapons which are being used by the people as a form of self-defence. Mr. Bombande emphasized the regional security council must use the current fragile calm in the area to build peace through dialogue. Once lasting peace is obtained through a multi-party stakeholder dialogue, residents will have no need for weapons, he explained.