![[Congo] Weapons collected to be destroyed in a military camp of Mpila, eastern district of Brazzaville, Congo, August 2006.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200611232.jpg.webp?itok=HAVdZ_3Q "Suspension du projet de collecte et de destruction d'armes à cause des difficultés de transport")
A gun-retrieval effort launched in November 2005 in the Republic of Congo has been suspended because the agency involved has run into transport difficulties, an official of the government body said.
Daniel Gassiélé said on Wednesday the state-owned railway company had been unable to buy equipment for the smooth running of its trains. Heavy rains have also been battering the country, severely disrupting rail traffic. This has made it difficult for the agency to deliver money, farming and other tools to former civil-war combatants in the administrative department of the Pool where they live.
In its bid to soak up all illegal weapons of war, the government has set up a scheme whereby combatants willing to surrender them are given money and tools to start self-employment projects in exchange. Money for this is partly provided by external donors. Le Projet de collecte d’armes pour le développement, the gun-retrieval agency, had received two million euros (US$2.6 million) from the European Union.
The agency suspended its weapons-collection drive on Wednesday because of transport difficulties to the Pool. "This [suspension] will give us time to collect all we need to help those who have handed over their weapons to us," Gassiélé said in Brazzaville, the nation's capital.
The agency appealed to donors on Wednesday for more funding. Most of the guns being retrieved are in the Pool and Brazzaville, scenes of the most intensive fighting during the civil wars in 1997 and 2002.
The EU-funded scheme to collect the guns in Brazzaville and the Pool covers the period 2005 to 2007. However, officials say due to the slow pace of retrieval and other conflicting national priorities, it could be extended until 2008.
The aim is to retrieve 15,000 weapons of various calibres. According to the Swiss non-governmental agency, Small Arms Survey, there are 34,000 guns still in circulation in the Republic of Congo - most of them in the Pool.
In 2005, Frederic Bintsangou, the head of the ex-combatants, the so-called Ninjas, tried to recover guns from its fighters. He promised to hand over what he had collected to the government.
Since 2006, the nation has received $17 million from the World Bank for a national programme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate former fighters into society. This process is due to finish in 2009.
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Daniel Gassiélé said on Wednesday the state-owned railway company had been unable to buy equipment for the smooth running of its trains. Heavy rains have also been battering the country, severely disrupting rail traffic. This has made it difficult for the agency to deliver money, farming and other tools to former civil-war combatants in the administrative department of the Pool where they live.
In its bid to soak up all illegal weapons of war, the government has set up a scheme whereby combatants willing to surrender them are given money and tools to start self-employment projects in exchange. Money for this is partly provided by external donors. Le Projet de collecte d’armes pour le développement, the gun-retrieval agency, had received two million euros (US$2.6 million) from the European Union.
The agency suspended its weapons-collection drive on Wednesday because of transport difficulties to the Pool. "This [suspension] will give us time to collect all we need to help those who have handed over their weapons to us," Gassiélé said in Brazzaville, the nation's capital.
The agency appealed to donors on Wednesday for more funding. Most of the guns being retrieved are in the Pool and Brazzaville, scenes of the most intensive fighting during the civil wars in 1997 and 2002.
The EU-funded scheme to collect the guns in Brazzaville and the Pool covers the period 2005 to 2007. However, officials say due to the slow pace of retrieval and other conflicting national priorities, it could be extended until 2008.
The aim is to retrieve 15,000 weapons of various calibres. According to the Swiss non-governmental agency, Small Arms Survey, there are 34,000 guns still in circulation in the Republic of Congo - most of them in the Pool.
In 2005, Frederic Bintsangou, the head of the ex-combatants, the so-called Ninjas, tried to recover guns from its fighters. He promised to hand over what he had collected to the government.
Since 2006, the nation has received $17 million from the World Bank for a national programme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate former fighters into society. This process is due to finish in 2009.
lmm/oss/mw
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