Some 700 traditional warriors known as Mai-Mai were demobilised at the weekend in a joint operation by UN peacekeepers and soldiers of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a UN statement said on Monday.
Another 1 300 will be integrated into the country’s post-war army, to be known as the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), the UN Mission in the DRC (Monuc) statement said.
The militiamen who had ”opted for civilian life,” handed over weapons and military uniforms to the soldiers in Kindu, in the east of the vast former Zaire, Monuc said, adding that the operation will be repeated in several other areas of the region where many Mai-Mai units have been cantoned.
The disarming of the Mai-Mai, estimated by Monuc to number between 20 000 and 30 000 in the eastern Kivu provinces, has been seen as central to peace in the DRC, where a national unity government took office in July.
A nebulous yet pivotal collection of tribal militias and local defence forces, the Mai-Mai have fought on both sides of the two back-to-back rebellions that have swept the DRC over the past six years.
Sporadically active since the 1960s, they traditionally fought naked, believing themselves to be invulnerable to bullets if they sprinkled their bodies with water before going into battle. Mai-Mai is the local word for water.
More recently they fought fully clothed, wearing amulets to protect themselves from harm.
Late in the war the Mai-Mai were largely allied with Kinshasa, though many supported Kigali and Rwandan-backed rebels. Others still have simply profited from the conflict by engaging in banditry.
The newly demobilised fighters were transported in Monuc vehicles to Lwama camp near Kindu where authorities were compiling a list of child soldiers as well as combatants too old to serve in the army, the statement said.
Candidates for demobiliation and their dependents were identified with logistical help from Monuc. – Sapa-AFP