Former fighters now await reintegration

The demobilisation of some 4,000 militiamen, soldiers and security personnel, which was started last year, ended on Tuesday in Guinea-Bissau. The former fighters now awaited the reinsertion phase of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process, media quoted officials quoted officials as saying. Many of those who had initially signed up for demobilisation did not participate in the exercise because the authorities could not confirm their identity or their names were fictitious, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. The process was now entering the reintegration and reinsertion phase, according to the the coordinator of Guinea-Bissau's demobilisation programme, Pedro Correia, quoted by Portuguese news service Lusa (Agencia de Noticias de Portugal). The reintegration phase, which would take 90 percent of the programme's total cost of US $19 million, would be run through projects set up by 47 organisations and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), he said. Those demobilised were mainly fighters who had participated in recent conflicts in the West African nation, he added. The reintegration and reinsertion of former combatants into civilian life could be jeopardised if the Guinea-Bissau government failed to pay salary arrears, or if international donors did not come through with the funding they had pledged, Lusa quoted Correia as saying.