Liberia has developed a programme to disarm some 40 000 combatants whose future seems uncertain after 14 years of a brutal war that also destabilised neighbouring countries.
The national commission on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration — announced on November 1 by Liberia’s interim leader Gyude Bryant — starts its work mid-November, government officials said this week.
The commission comprises the government of Liberia and the rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model), as well as the UN agencies, European Union (EU), the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and the World Bank.
Analysts say the move seeks to help Liberia to put the war — that forced virtually all of the country’s 3,5-million people to flee for their lives — behind it and build a lasting peace.
More than 50 000 people were killed and wounded and unknown numbers of women and girls were raped, and villages were razed in a war rooted in ethnic rivalry and an ugly scramble for power and the country’s rich diamond, gold and timber reserves.
The UN is trying to rescue Liberia from the abyss of perpetual war which began in December 1989 when warlord Charles Taylor led an invasion against the regime of former president Samuel Doe, exacerbating years of repression on the country’s civilians. Doe was killed in 1990 but the war continued after brief interludes of peace since Taylor, now in exile in Nigeria, assumed power in a 1997 election.
The international community ignored the war for so long before deciding to isolate Taylor’s regime.
Under sustained pressures from Liberians and the international community, the rebels and government signed a ceasefire last August and formed a power-sharing government.
They agreed to disarm the rebel soldiers and repatriate hundreds of thousands of refugees.
With a semblance of peace now hovering the capital, Monrovia, political commentators say, the greatest challenges in Liberia now are the fate of thousands of marauding combatants, including child soldiers who spread the war to neighbouring Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire.
Many of the drug-addicted youths — recruited by all sides in the conflict — continue to thrive on violent crimes. In the countryside, many areas are no-go zones for civilians and aid workers who fear banditry and other forms of violence.
Monrovia — where the United Nations has begun dispatching military units from Russia, China, Philippines, Peru and Bangladesh, among others — is gripped with complaints of armed robbery and related violence at the hands of militia.
Eight-year old Boakai Sambola is one of the youngest soldiers. He said Lurd recruited him in his home village in western Liberia in Mar. 2003. He hopes to return to school.
Thirty-five-year old Carlton Tarplah fought for Model in southeast Liberia. With little or no sound education, he does not venture in academic argument. “I worked for a timber company and I want (to) do the same thing when we disarm,” he says.
Jenevive Sackie (18) abducted from a Monrovia ghetto by government forces when she was 15, admits that she “used the gun to kill and terrorise people”. But she asks to be forgiven for her misdeeds and is “willing to lay down my arms and do something better for myself”.
A 22-year-old commander, demanding anonymity, said he operated one of Lurd’s anti-missile barrels when they assaulted Monrovia last July. “I want to remain a soldier because I have some knowledge,” he says.
A nine-year-old youth admitted being a rebel, saying he thrives on violence. He had been “violent, aggressive and withdrawn”, a relative said about the boy.
Some militia and rebels want an agreed incentive for surrendering their weapons. Many others fear retribution when they lay down their arms as they will have no means to defend themselves.
The 1999 disarmament exercise was a mess, critics say. Thousands of combatants emerged from the bush and, after being given food and used clothes, surrendered their weapons, but many others remained at large and some commanders vowed to continue fighting.
It was all because the international community committed limited resources and the rebels complained of not being given an agreed bonus for giving up their arms.
Now the United Nations says “Adequate and secure funding will be required for maintaining cantonment sites, supporting ex-combatants and their families during the process, transporting them and providing cash and other incentives to encourage them to disarm and demobilise”.
Although some rebel commanders are demanding money, UN officials are opposed to giving cash rewards to fighters to disarm.
Unicef’s officer responsible for demobilising child and girl soldiers, Fatuma Ibrahim, says UN will, instead, provide vocational and skill training for soldiers beyond the school going age and educational packages to integrate those wishing to return to school.
“Money can’t do anything to upkeep the fighters for their future livelihood,” says Fatuma, believing that vocation and other skill training for would-be combatants would make them much more useful in the society.
In the meantime, Unicef has launched a scheme that allows around 750 000 children to go back to school free of charge.
Speaking from New York on November 3, Unicef executive director, Carol Bellany, said “this is a brave campaign launched at a fragile time in Liberia peace process. It is a courageous step agreed by the peace signatories and is significant on the peace process”.
Analysts say the real test will come when the guns are taken away from the rebels and when they return to their original communities to face their own people.
Some 318 000 Liberians seeking refuge in neighbouring countries and civilians within Liberia have all indicated their willing to return home once disarmament is complete.
A field officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCH) said some of the refugees will be coming back home with a lot of skills that they have learned as the country desperately needs them.
Whatever arrangement is being made to guarantee the future of the rebels, analysts say, the success of the disarmament exercise ultimately rests with the leaders of the warring factions. – IPS