Disarmament Official Estimates 60,000 Combatants

The head of Liberia's disarmament commission Moses Jarbo estimates that about 60,000 combatants expected to be disarmed, substantially more than the 40,000 projected by the United Nations. Jarbo told IRIN on Friday that the commission’s figures are based upon preliminary estimates gathered from former fighting forces during a series of meetings in Monrovia. "The commission, along with the political leadership of the former warring factions, unanimously believes that the figure being represented by the UN is under-estimated. As the disarmament progresses, we would be working around a figure of between 55,000-60,000 ex-fighters", Jarbo contended. UN Force commander Daniel Opande agreed that the estimated figure of 38,000- 40,000 as presented by the UN was what he called, "an initial planning figure". "That is why we have been prevailing on warring groups to submit their listing of fighters to enable us to properly plan for them during this disarmament period", Opande explained. However, force commander Opande agreed that the initial figure could be misleading due to the ex-fighters high enthusiasm to disarm, but he declined to state how this might affect the final number of combatants expected. According to Jarbo, a comprehensive list of fighters from all the warring groups was requested by the UN in December, but it took until early April to get what he described as "a provincial listing". Meanwhile, UN peacekeepers on Friday opened the fourth round of the national disarmament programme. The new cantonment site for former combatants loyal to the ex-government of Charles Taylor is located at the VOA camp 25 km north of the Liberian capital, Monrovia. The camp was open to those former government fighters who were disarmed during the first disarmament period in December, but were not demobilised and did not receive cash benefits. On December 7, the UN commenced the country's disarmament beginning with former fighters loyal to the former government, but the programme was suspended after pro-Taylor fighters rioted in Monrovia for three days, protesting their right to money for guns. Calm was restored when the fighters were later given an initial payment of US$ 75 out of the US$ 300 which each is to receive after undergoing the disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRR) process.