Over 2,300 Ninjas surrender in recent days

At least 2,300 rebel Ninja soldiers have surrendered with their weapons in recent days in the Pool Region of the Republic of Congo, according to the communications department of the Congolese Armed Forces (Forces armees congolaises). This followed a peace agreement reached on 17 March between the government in Brazzaville and the Ninja leader, the Rev Frederic Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi, the military said. On Monday, 812 rebels handed their weapons over to military authorities in Missafou, a small town on the Congo-ocean railway, some 110 km southwest of the capital, Brazzaville. Last week, between Wednesday and Friday, at least 1,500 rebels also surrendered in the town of Mindouli, some 200 km from Brazzaville. Speaking during a ceremony to welcome the ex-combatants, Commerce Minister Adelaide Moundele-Ngollo - originally from Pool - congratulated the former rebels for "choosing the path of peace". She played a key role in negotiating a cessation of hostilities with the Ninjas. She said the peace process was now "irreversible" and that the government's treatment of the demobilised fighters was a sign of good faith on the part of authorities, which should encourage remaining Ninjas to disarm. A Ntoumi associate, Bernard Misiki, said the demobilised soldiers sought nothing more than "the socioeconomic reintegration promised by the government". He pledged that even greater numbers of Ninja combatants would emerge from their positions in the forests of the Pool Region in the coming days. The disarmed Ninjas, who have been guaranteed amnesty by the government, are now awaiting either integration into the military or reinsertion into civilian life through micro-credit projects run by the government with the support of international donors. Former rebels are also to be included in a special committee to be formed to establish peace in Pool. Conflict erupted in Pool between government forces and Ninja rebels loyal to Ntoumi in late March 2002. Tens of thousands of people fled the region, while fighting trapped many more. Those who escaped were usually able to receive relief support, but humanitarian access to the vast majority left behind in Pool has been sporadic if not impossible.