Government reaffirms commitment to disarmament

Sierra Leone’s National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) said in a news release dated 12 January that it “remains fully committed to a speedy and successful disarmament process”. In a report dated 11 January, UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, had said that “progress in the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme has generally been very slow, presumably as the various groups have been assessing the evolving situation as well as the deployment of UNAMSIL and ECOMOG troops”. As at 12 January, 4,580 weapons and 56,636 rounds of ammunition had been collected, an NCDDR source told IRIN. He said 11,944 ex-combatants had been disarmed, including 3,804 “loyal Sierra Leone Army (SLA)” who avoided the formal encampment process. “Loyal SLA refers to those who fought alongside ECOMOG up until the time that the Lome agreement was signed,” the source said. The 11,944 also includes 1,414 “Phase One” ex-combatants—SLA soldiers who served under the military junta that overthrew President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May 1997, but chose to disarm and be demobilised after ECOMOG restored Kabbah to power in February 1998. “Phase One ex-combatants includes those who were part of the DDR process before the programme was officially launched on 4 November,” the source said.