A future for DDR?

The head of Sierra Leone’s National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR), Francis Kaikai, believes there is still a future for the country’s DDR programme, OCHA reported in its 22-23 May humanitarian situation update.

“There will always be a finite size to the army, and as long as we know there will eventually be peace, DDR as part of a peace process will be on,” Kaikai told OCHA (Offfice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) on Tuesday.

Out of the original nine DDR camps only two were still operational: Daru in the east and Lungi, north of Freetown, housing former members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Sierra Leone Army (SLA) respectively. The RUF destroyed the Makeni DDR camp on 1 May, Kaikai said. The DDR camp in another northern location, Magburaka, has also been destroyed.

Daru, Lungi and three other camps were intact while the condition of two in the northern area of Port Loko had not yet been assessed.

Kaikai added that distrust over security and the sustainability of the peace process had always hampered the DDR programme. He said that although some RUF rebels wanted to disarm, their commanders often insisted on waiting for the green light from RUF leader Foday Sankoh.

Sankoh outwardly supported the DDR process by going on ‘sensitisation’ trips across the country to encourage his followers to demobilise but observers accused him of using them as an opportunity to launch his presidential campaign.

The reintegration part of the DDR programme has continued although it is not clear how many ex-fighters remain enrolled. A large number still need assistance in training institutions and some of the children had just gone back to school before hostilities resumed earlier this month, OCHA reported.

According to NCDDR figures, as of 4 May a total of 24,271 fighters from all sides, Civil Defence Forces, Armed Forces Revolutionary Council/ex-Sierra Leone Army and RUF, had disarmed. Since then an unknown number have re-armed.