Japan's grant to help disarm former combatants

The Japanese government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed an agreement whereby Tokyo will provide a US$2 million grant to help the Republic of Congo's gun retrieval agency carry out its mandate.

Some of the money will also support efforts to reintegrate former militiamen into society.

"PCAD [the Project for the Collection of Weapons, known by its French acronym], which lies within the scope of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme for the ex-combatants, aims to contribute to the strengthening of the peace process, national reconstruction as well as the social and economic reconstruction of the Republic of Congo," said Hiromi Okamoto, Japanese ambassador to the Congo, at the signing ceremony on Tuesday in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville.

"By signing this convention on financing with Japan, UNDP will begin to carry out activities aimed at improving the security situation among the population through the voluntary return of weapons, the promotion of economic activities and the strengthening of national capacity in the fight against the proliferation of light weapons and small arms," Aurélien Agbenonci, UNDP's resident representative in the Congo, said.

PCAD was established in November 2005 by UNDP with two million Euros ($2.6 million) from the European Commission for the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of at least 30,000 former combatants. The World Bank has also provided a $17 million grant for the project.

Combatants willing to surrender their weapons are given money and tools to start self-employment projects in exchange. So far, at least 1,000 weapons have been collected with 15,000 weapons of all calibres expected to be collected by the end of 2008.

The gun retrieval agency's programmes cover the Brazzaville and Pool regions, which experienced devastating civil war in 1997 and from 1998 to 2002, with 10,000 deaths being reported in Brazzaville alone.

According to a report published by the Swiss NGO, Small Arms Survey, at the beginning of 2006, there are between 37,000 and 40,000 weapons of different calibres in illegal circulation in the country, mostly concentrated in the Pool region.

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