Slow donor response to DDR, says Saferworld

Barely half the US $50 million required to sustain the work of an ongoing Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme in Sierra Leone has been donated so far and the response from the EU as a whole has been "poor," Saferworld, a London-based research group, said this week. "All European governments should support this crucial work," Saferworld said in the 16th issue of its arms bulletin, issued on 15 December. It cited the 1997 EU programme on illicit trafficking, the 1998 EU Joint Action on Small Arms and the 1999 EU Development Council Resolution as all providing the framework within which EU support could be given. Governments which have shown support for Sierra Leone's DDR programme include the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada, according to Saferworld, an independent group that alerts governments and educates the public on the need for more effective approaches to tackling and preventing armed conflicts worldwide.