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Ex-fighters penalised over allowance riots

    ABIDJAN

    Three dozen former combatants have been fined, sent to jail or reprimanded for rioting in the northern town of Port Loko over unpaid allowances, an official from the National Committee for Disarmament, Demoblisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) told IRIN on Thursday.

    "Nineteen received jail terms of between one to six months, eight were fined between 20,000 to 60,000 leones (US $10 - US $30) and nine were reprimanded," Solomon Moriba, Broadcasting Officer at NCDDR said.

    During the riot, which took place on 24 September, thirty-six former fighters attacked the NCDDR office, threw stones, broke windows, assaulted staff and damaged vehicles. They were demanding immediate payment of their reinsertion package, approximately 300,000 leones (US $150), a short-term payment for disarmed and demobilised ex-fighters waiting to begin vocational training programmes in their home areas.

    It takes time to set up training facilities to be set up and this money aims to cushion them in the interim, Moriba said. However before receiving this payment, he added, all eligible candidates have to be registered and this had not taken place at the time of the riot.

    Payment of the reinsertion package started in Port Loko on Wednesday. Other northern towns including Kambia, Lungi and Lunsar, also started payments on Wednesday.

    Meanwhile between 200-300 former fighters demonstrated near the NCDDR office in Freetown on Monday wanting to register for the reinsertion package. "Shots were fired but no-one was hurt," Moriba said denying an AFP report that two former combatants were injured after UN peacekeepers fired into the air. No arrests were made and police dispersed the protestors. Registration is due to begin in the Western Area of Freetown on 15 October, Moriba said.

    Nearly 30,000 former combatants, including Revolutionary United Front rebels and pro-government Civil Defence Forces who took part in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war, have handed over weapons since the signing of the Lome Peace Accord in July 1999, NCDDR said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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