Slow reintegration of ex-combatants causes concern

Nearly six months after the end of disarmament in Sierra Leone, at least half of the ex-combatants demobilised between September 1998 and January 2002 are yet to be reintegrated, officials in the capital, Freetown, told IRIN.

The reintegration programmes were intended to prepare the 69,463 demobilised ex-combatants for re-absorption into their communities. However the process has been slow and ex-combatants were becoming "restless", the officials said on Friday.

As at 20 June, only 7,453 ex-combatants, including 153 children, had been reintegrated. Another 20,443 ex-combatants, 566 of them children, were undergoing reintegration. Unlike the first group, in which only 249 completed formal education, the second batch had 9,193 undergoing formal schooling.

"Those who completed the programmes have set up small businesses or got employed, but the worry is the majority are still pending," Sullay Sesay, information and sensitisation manager of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) said.

Another 3,470 ex-combatants, including 375 children, were enrolled in programmes that had been approved and were awaiting implementation, NCDDR records showed. Pending cases included the rest of the ex-combatants, totalling 38,097.

"We are appealing for urgent support to reintegrate the remaining ex-combatants quickly for the sake of peace," Sesay said. "The 60,000 leones (about US $30) we pay them as monthly allowance cannot sustain them.”

The reintegration programmes are implemented by non-governmental organisations. Some of the completed programmes include skills training and job placement for 927 ex-combatants by World Relief in Port Loko and Lungi in the north, apprenticeship skills training and job creation for 500 by Action Aid in the Western Area, general apprenticeship for 383 by various institutions in the Western Area and agricultural training for 350 by CCSL in Port Loko and Tonkolili in the north.

Other approved programmes include vocational training for 671 ex-combatants by the Association for Rural Development in Makeni in the northern district of Bombali, and on-the-job skills training in public works for 600 by the International Office for Migration in Kono (east). The Adventist Development and Relief Agency and Christian Brothers are focusing on skills training for 375 ex-child combatants in Tonkolili, Koinadugu (north) and Bo and Moyamba in the south.

A total of 72,490 ex-combatants were initially disarmed, including 6,845 children. However, about 3,000 were reintegrated into the army in May 2000 due to security fears, Sesay said. Those disarmed included 37,377 former members of the civil defence forces, a paramilitary group that supported the government, 24,352 fighters of the rebel Revolutionary United Front and 5,953 soldiers of the former Sierra Leone Army.