CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Special report on the disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration of ex-fighters

BANGUI, 8 Dec 2003 (IRIN) - //This is the first in a series of five special reports on the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) of former rebel fighters in the Great Lakes region. The second report, on Burundi's DDR process, will be published on Monday, 15 December on www.irinnews.org //

After years of civil strife, the Central African Republic (CAR) has, since March 2003, lived through a period of relative calm. This has enabled the transitional government of Francois Bozize to plan a phased demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) process targeting ex-rebel fighters and former government soldiers.

The past turmoil gave rise to a proliferation of weapons and men willing to use them to settle scores. When Bozize, a former armed forces chief of staff, seized power from President Ange-Felix Patasse on 15 March after a six-month rebellion, he vowed to disarm and demobilise all armed fighters before the start of the democratic electoral process in mid-2004.

That task fell to the Chadian soldiers, who arrived in the country after Bozize's coup to help him restore calm, and those of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC), who initially made a bold attempt to rid the capital, Bangui, of weapons held by Bozize's former fighters (also called "liberators") and members of the CAR army.

However, many "liberators" escaped the dragnet, especially those of Chadian origin. They then joined bandits and cattle raiders operating in the remote north. In recent weeks, the incidence of armed robbery and cattle raiding by these elements, who are armed with modern weapons, has risen sharply. Moreover, pro-Patasse militiamen are also thought still to be armed.

CEMAC troops have been unable to neutralise these bands, because rain-battered roads and broken bridges have made it impossible for them to deploy. Instead, being more adapted to the rough terrain than regular troops, the bandits have taken the fight to the CEMAC troops. In June, for example, a CEMAC unit was ambushed in the eastern town of Bambari, 384 km north of Bangui.

In a memorandum to a visiting UN delegation in June, the government said that the DDR process would be implemented in three phases, these being (1) informing and educating the former fighters about disarmament, (2) voluntary disarmament and (3) forcible recovery of firearms and legal action against recalcitrant bearers of illegal weapons.
 

The confiscated firearms before they were set ablaze. Bangui, 25 July 2003

The government noted in this respect that it would prefer voluntary disarmament, but was also willing to use force. It added that since donors had not responded with funds for the DDR project, the three phases were being implemented as expediency demanded and not necessarily in three distinct phases.

WEAPONS IN CIRCULATION

By implication, the disarmament of armed groups will also need to be extended to civilians in a country awash with pistols, automatic and semiautomatic rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Gen Xavier Yangongo, who chaired the Defence and Security Commission at national reconciliation talks held in September and October, told IRIN on 4 October that about 50,000 firearms were being illegally held in the country, of which 30,000 were in Bangui. The committee was formed in accordance with recommendations made by the 350 delegates who attended the month-long talks.

Yangongo said that some of the weapons being held illegally had been stolen from army barracks during the May 2001 mutiny of former President Andre Kolingba and Bozize's armed rebellion in November the same year. Other weapons, he said, had been brought into the country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), southern Sudan and southern Chad, which were also in the throes of armed rebellion at the time.

Most of these weapons are now in the hands of the pro-Patasse militiamen, bandits and cattle herders. Equally disturbing is the fact that many firearms are in the hands of civilians. Referring to this during the national reconciliation talks on 14 October, Bozize said that the problem of weapons hidden in homes, farmlands and wells would also have to be tackled.

A day after that statement, security forces seized 19 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,957 rounds of ammunition in the Sambo neighbourhood of Bangui, all of which had been hidden in casks of palm oil loaded on a truck ready to be moved to the north.

DEMOBILISATION

After the ex-combatants are disarmed, they will have to be demobilised. On 26 September, Prime Minister Abel Goumba announced the setting up of an inter-ministerial committee, with which CEMAC would work to identify all of Bozize's former fighters for either demobilisation or integration into the army.

Four days later, the secretary of state for army reform and disarmament, Col Jules Wande, told a visiting World Bank-EC delegation that 6,500 former fighters and militiamen remained to be disarmed. These included Bozize's former fighters, former army mutineers and pro-Patasse northern militia groups going by the names of Karaco, Saroui and Balawa.
 

Disarmed former combatants undergo vocational training. Bangui, 14 October 2003

Under Wande's plan, the demobilisation of sick and handicapped fighters began on 8 October. As of 1 January 2004, the defence ministry would begin retiring those willing to engage in civilian occupations. Finally, a new army recruitment drive targeting all the nation's many ethnic groups would begin in the second half of 2004.

However, the government, which employs 7,617 soldiers, gendarmes and policemen, has not yet revealed the number of the fighters it is willing to absorb into security and defence services. The government has appealed for donor funds to help it accomplish this task.

The need to disarm and demobilise former fighters is, perhaps, self-evident. Less obvious is where the money for the process will come from. In its memorandum to a visiting UN delegation, the government said the operation would cost at least 650 million francs CFA (US $1.83 million). So far, no donor has said it is prepared to support the process, which is to be implemented jointly with the CEMAC force and French troops stationed in the CAR.
(Source: http://www.irinnews.org/S_report.asp?ReportID=38283&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes )

Spécial Actualité Centrafrique de sangonet - Version Internet IRIN anglaise (suite >>>)