Militias fail to show for disarmament

Disarmament of pro-government militias in western Cote d’Ivoire failed to start as planned on Friday after some 2,000 fighters, due to hand over their weapons, failed to show up for the special ceremony. The fighters, belonging to three pro-government militia groups, are scheduled to disband and turn in their guns at the local court in the western town of Guiglo, some 500 km northwest of the main city Abidjan, said Honorine Kouman of the National Programme for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (PNDDR). But by Friday afternoon, Jean-Paul Malan of the PNDDR in Guiglo, said he was still waiting. “We are ready,” Malan said. “We are waiting. They [a couple of militia youth] told us their leaders are in talks in Abidjan. They are waiting for instructions.” Militia leaders travelled to Abidjan on Thursday and remained in closed door meetings on Friday. Disbanding and disarmament of militias is the first step of the much-delayed disarmament process, which should pave the way for holding presidential elections in October, seen as crucial to restoring peace. Rebels who took the north of the country in a 2002 failed coup, and army leaders who control the south, have not yet made public a timetable for the disarmament of their combatants. The New Forces rebel movement has always insisted the militias hand in their weapons before tens of thousands of rebel fighters disarm. “We'll see what happens today,” said New Forces spokesman Alain Lobognon. “We don't have much faith in it. It's not the first time the militias have said they will disarm.” In May 2005, western-based militias handed in a token AK-47 assault rifle during an official ceremony but never disarmed. The operation was delayed again last week as Maho Glofiei, leader of the best-known militia in Guiglo, the Liberation Front for the Grand West (FLGO), said he needed more time to inform his fighters. Some members of FLGO, including Liberian nationals, fought alongside government troops in early 2003 to ward off rebel forces trying to seize the cocoa-growing western region. The war was officially declared over in July 2003 by President Laurent Gbagbo, but the country remains split in two. The divide is monitored by over 10,000 French and UN peacekeepers. The other Guiglo-based pro-government militia groups included in the disarmament process are the Patriotic Alliance of the West (AP-We) and the Ivorian Movement for the Liberation of the West of Cote d'Ivoire (MILOCI). But leaders of AP-We and MILOCI said in an interview published Friday they wanted four-wheel drives enabling them to inform combatants about the disarmament process. “Our demands have not been met,” a militia leader known as Colombo told the daily Nord-Sud newspaper. “We are ready to disarm, but the people of the national disarmament programme are not taking us seriously.” The militia leaders were not immediately available for comment. In the Adjame neighbourhood of the main city Abidjan, young men in camouflage gear attempted to take over a school building that they had used as a training camp before security forces evicted them last year, according to local press reports. The primary school is currently occupied by an army battalion which dispersed the youths with tear gas and bullets. The fighters then took control of a nearby school for disenfranchised children, the school’s director said in a statement. Residents in Abidjan accuse militia members of racketeering, extortion, and burglary. pb/ss/cs