Delegates from 20 African countries began talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday on the process of disarming and reintegrating former combatants to boost peace and development on the violence-wracked continent.
The United Nations chose to hold the second international conference on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), symbolically, in the capital of the DRC, which has emerged from a five-year civil war and nearly three years of political transition that culminated in democratic elections last year.
Special UN envoy William Swing said the aim is to share experiences between African nations that have gone through the DDR process, such as Mozambique, and those where disarmament is still under way like the DRC, and others like Côte d’Ivoire, where it is just beginning.
DRC Foreign Minister Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi officially opened the three-day conference, stressing the importance of national commitment to the process to ”create the conditions for a durable peace” on the continent.
”Africa continues to be a theatre of violence,” he told the delegates. ”The conflicts prevent the African continent from focusing on the battle for development.”
Mbusa also said the process calls for security reforms, especially in the army. He noted that the DRC, in its transition, created 15 brigades within a new army and demobilised about 130 000 former combatants, including more than 30 000 child soldiers.
”Despite these not negligible results, it is evident that there is still a lot to do,” he said.
DRC officials say that less than half of the ex-fighters have benefited from the reinsertion programme. Among that group, some have taken up arms again after months of waiting in the orientation centres, especially in the volatile north-east region of Ituri.
Johan Swinnen, the ambassador from Belgium, which along with Sweden is financing the conference, warned that failing to achieve the post-conflict disarmament and reintegration process could lead to a return to violence.
The conference, which will run to Thursday, will include topics such as child soldiers, the issue of armed foreign rebels in some countries, and the colossal difficulties of reinserting jobless former fighters back into society. — Sapa-AFP