Demobilisation lessons to be learned from Rwanda

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could learn from Rwanda's experience, which "could be of benefit to us as we move towards peace, in the course of which we must unify various fighting forces [into a new army] with a view to rebuilding the country in peace," Andre Moussa Kalekanya, the assistant coordinator of the DRC's National Bureau for Demobilisation and Reintegration, told IRIN. Speaking at the same meeting, the commissioner-general of the bureau, Sebastien Kirongozi, said the Rwandan experience could enable the DRC "to rectify the errors" made during its pilot experimental phase of the demobilisation and reintegration of child soldiers, launched on 18 December 2001. At the start of this programme, 285 children were demobilised, but following verification of their ages, 46 of them were found to be adults Kalekanya was speaking in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday after returning from the World Bank-sponsored meeting in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on the demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants into society. The meeting, held from 30 October to 2 November, was attended by officials from the DRC, Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.