Over 7,600 weapons destroyed

More than 7,600 weapons recovered by UN peacekeepers during the disarmament of ex-combatants in Sierra Leone were destroyed on Monday in the capital, Freetown, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reported. The event marked the beginning of the second phase of UNAMSIL's weapon's destruction exercise, which is expected to continue until 10 December. As in the first phase, which began in May, the weapons are being cut up by machines into small pieces from which productive tools such as hoes, sickles, cutlasses, shovels and axes will be made, UNAMSIL said. The tools will be distributed to beneficiaries of a reintegration programme run by Sierra Leone's National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, it said.