Civil society lobbies for peace

Members of the civil society in Sierra Leone are trying to speed up the peace process by holding meetings with the various parties to discuss issues of concern. “We are holding individual seminars for all stakeholders, including the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), former Sierra Leonean Army (SLA)/Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Sierra Leonean government, ECOMOG and others to discuss issues which are holding up the implementation of the peace accord,” Zainab Bangura, coordinator of the Campaign for Good Governance, told IRIN on Friday. One of the pressing issues blocking the Lome Peace Accord is the slow implementation of the disarmament process. Under the accord, signed on 7 July, 1999 by the government and the RUF, the disarmament, demoblisation, and reintegration (DDR) programme was to start within 6 weeks of the deal. However, it was not officially launched until 20 October. Then, at the launch it was said that deadline for the disarmament phase was 15 December. As of 1 March, out of an estimated 45,000 former fighters, only 17,641 had reported to reception centres, according to the government body responsible for managing the DDR process, the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR). Alimamy Koroma, general secretary of the Council of Churches, told IRIN on Thursday that members of the civil society were lobbying for “substantial disarmament” before any elections takes place in Sierra Leone. Other key issues to be discussed with the parties to the peace accord include access for relief agencies to previously inaccessible areas to allow humanitarian deliveries, and the release of abducted children, Bangura said. The UN Security Council said in a statement on Wednesday that members “view with deep concern reports of continuing human rights abuses, in particular gross violence against women and girls”. Security Council members were worried, too, about reports of a serious humanitarian situation especially in those parts of the country where the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) is being prevented from deploying its troops. There are also plans to organise workshops and seminars with commanders of the warring factions with the eventual aim of bringing all the players together to try to reach a consensus, Bangura told IRIN.