Demobilisation efforts continue

Three decrees signed on 26 January by President Ange-Felix Patasse on the organisation and operation of the defence ministry, the CAR army and the national gendarmerie have provided "encouraging signs" for army restructuring and demobilisation initiatives in the country, a UN report said. "They confirm the importance accorded to these issues by the government," UNDP's Programme National de Demobilisation et Reconversion des Militaires (PNDR) said in its latest update, received by IRIN. One of the tasks assigned to the defence ministry was the restructuring of the army, the report noted. Meanwhile, the government, donors and other external partners were scheduled to discuss the PNDR at a meeting in New York in March with a view to raising the necessary funds for the country's army restructuring, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration efforts, the report stated. "The March results will be decisive," it said.