All weapons will be turned over, warlords promise

Leaders of Liberia's three former warring parties announced on Wednesday that all of their weapons, including heavy artillery, would be turned over to UN peacekeepers in the on-going disarmament process. Sekou Conneh, the leader of the main rebel group, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) told IRIN on Wednesday that he had instructed all of his fighters and top commanders to hand over all arms to the peacekeepers wherever they were. "Keeping arms and heavy weapons to do what with them?" he enquired. "The war is over and all of my men are aware of my orders a few days ago that no one should hide any gun - be it light or heavy weapon. War is not on our minds no more”. The country's second rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), through its leader Thomas Nimely Yaya - now Foreign Minister in the transitional government - told IRIN that none of its arms and ammunitions would be left over during the exercise. "MODEL is not interested in amassing weapons. We do not have anything to hide and in due course all of our weapons we used during the war will all be turned over to UNMIL. This disarmament process must be successful. The time of holding up to guns are over," the softly spoken warlord said. Nimely denied that his group was ferrying back all of its artillery into neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire, which has been described by diplomats as the main backer of the rebel group and which is still caught up in its own internal crisis. Diplomats in Monrovia made similar comments about LURD earlier this year when they expressed fears that LURD rebels were attempting to withdraw their heavy weapons to Guinea - their military backer. Roland Duo, general commander of the former government forces, which the two rebel groups opposed during the last four years of civil conflict in Liberia, said that most of their main heavy weapons have already been handed over to the UN peacekeepers. "We have been cooperating with UNMIL. Even the largest artillery pieces that we used the Four Barrel mortar, 106 howitzers, BZT were turned over to the peacekeepers. They have record of them. All of our former fighters are now fully prepared to turn over any weapons in their possession," Duo declared. The warlords’ pronouncements came four days after the commander of the UN peacekeeping forces in Liberia, General Daniel Opande, warned all warring groups that hiding weapons during the war torn country's disarmament program would constitute a criminal offence. “UNMIL will not allow anyone to hide weapons and let this be a clear message for LURD, MODEL and former government fighters," Opande had warned. His warning came amidst reports that some fighters were turning in few weapons at disarmament sites and harbouring others. On Friday, former government fighters are to begin their disarmament at the VOA cantonments north of the Liberian capitol, Monrovia. The VOA camp will be the fourth disarmament camp opened to host disarmed combatants since the disarmament process was re-launched on April 15. The other three are in territories formerly controlled by the LURD and MODEL rebel groups. The executive director of Liberia's disarmament commission, Dr Moses Jarbo, said last week that plans are being made to open an additional six camps in rural Liberia to allow more combatants to disarm more quickly