IOM assists ex-combatants in north to reintegrate

Sitting in a tiny carpentry shop in a busy bazaar in Sheberghan, capital of Afghanistan’s northern Jawzjan province, Said Kamal assembles a chair for a recently built school in his village. The 27-year-old has been doing this work over the past year since giving up his life as a fighter with a regional militia and handing over his AK47 under the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme. "Life has become better since I laid down my gun and started working in the carpentry shop," Kamal grinned. "I was using my gun to earn money and people hated me. Now I can afford to take care of my family," he noted, pointing to the chairs behind him. Kamal is one of many beneficiaries of the reintegration programme, run by the International Organization of Migration (IOM). The programme provides former disarmed soldiers with small business training and US $700 worth of goods and/or equipment to restart their lives. "There was no salary when I was a fighter and I basically worked as a servant for the commander. Now everything has changed - now I am enjoying a free life earning money and serving the people," said Mohammad Yassen, 30, another beneficiary of the effort, who now runs a workshop repairing cars in the city. In the northern provinces of Balkh, Jawzjan, Saripul, Samangan and Faryab, the IOM has helped around 7,000 former gunmen to get such jobs since March 2004. "The IOM's reintegration programme as part of the general DDR component ultimately enables former combatants to become productive members of their society," said Enis Shaqiri, IOM project officer for the northern region. "It is an integral part of the transition from nearly three decades of conflict to stability and prosperity of the war-ravaged country," the IOM official added. Through its reintegration programme, the IOM strives to create the conditions that allow combatants to re-enter their communities, by addressing the former soldiers’ income needs and employing additional capacity building, skills development and business support initiatives, Shaqiri explained. Additionally, the IOM is also providing literacy training courses and employment referral services. "[Some] 667 illiterate former combatants and 62 members of communities in the northern region have been given the opportunity to gain essential reading and writing skills, thanks to 56 literacy trainers," Shaqiri said. Former combatants receive literacy training in their villages in the northern provinces for one hour per day by trainers identified within the community. Moreover, wherever possible, the IOM employs literate former combatants to train their illiterate fellow combatants, providing the trainers with textbooks, blackboards and writing kits. According to Shaqiri, 33, former combatants who have graduated from the IOM's vocational training programme in the trades of carpentry and metalwork were given the opportunity to increase their incomes and become self-reliant by manufacturing 3,435 sets of desks and chairs for schools in the northern region of Afghanistan. Since February 2004, the IOM has assisted more than 14,000 former Afghan soldiers to reintegrate into civilian life in the northern, central and southeastern provinces of Afghanistan. Analysts believe that proper and long-term reintegration of former gunmen is essential to the country’s future peace and stability. "Without proper and long-term reintegration of former gunmen, they would again resort to arms as the only means of keeping their families, which could further fuel insecurity and would result in criminal activities," said Aziz Rafee, head of the Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF) in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.