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A campaign to sensitise former fighters to the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Programme continued in eastern Sierra Leone at the weekend.
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leone Deputy Defence Minister Hinga Norman and ECOMOG Force Commander Major General Gabriel Kpamber all urged ex-combatants in Bo on Thursday to give up their weapons, ECOMOG said.
Norman is also the head of the Kamajor militia and is credited with transforming it from a group of traditional hunters into an effective fighting force, which came to the defence of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah after he was ousted in May 1997 by RUF rebels and renegade soldiers.
Bo town, which was never captured by the RUF during the war, is one of the main Kamajor strongholds.
“The Kamajors have been reluctant to disarm, mainly through mistrust. The appearance of Hinga Norman side by side with Foday Sankoh should bolster their confidence,” a Freetown source told IRIN.
The DDR sensitisation mission continued through the weekend in Kenema, some 60 km east of Bo, and in the diamond-rich Tongo Field, some 25 km north of Kenema, according to media and local reports.
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