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Ex-combatants start to go home

    ABIDJAN

    Sierra Leonean ex-combatants in Liberia started to return home last week, according to media and local sources.

    The Sierra Leonean ambassador to Liberia, Kemoh Salia Bao, said on independent Star Radio that more than 100 former soldiers returned last week. He added that several hundred more were expected to return in the coming days, some by road to Kenema and Daru in the eastern part of the country, others by sea to Freetown.

    "We want all Sierra Leoneans to return home to facilitate
    nation-building," presidential spokesman, Septimus Kaikai, told IRIN, "but we want to ensure that their contribution to society will be productive and positive."

    On their return to Sierra Leone they will not necessarily be enrolled into the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme, according to a senior government DDR official.

    "They will only be incorporated into the DDR programme if they are able to provide the Ministry of Defence with detailed information on the location of their weapons," Francis Kaikai, acting executive secretary of the DDR, programme told IRIN.

    A UNHCR official in Freetown told IRIN that the return of the
    ex-combatants was organised by the Sierra Leonean and Liberian
    governments.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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