LIBERIA: Fewer than half those disarmed hand in a weapon

Photo: IRIN

Liberia - Where have all the weapons gone?

MONROVIA, 21 April 2004 (IRIN) - The United Nations said on Wednesday nearly 1,800 former combatants reported for demobilisation during the first week of its relaunched disarmament programme in Liberia, but less than half of them handed in a gun. This revived fears that many of the weapons used in Liberia’s 14-year civil war were being hidden or had been spirited away across the border into neighbouring countries. Officials of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) told reporters that 1,789 former combatants from the LURD and MODEL rebel movements had registered for disarmament between 15 and 20 April at the two cantonment sites opened so far. However, only 782 weapons had been handed in, they added. There have recently been reports of MODEL (Movement for Democracy for Liberia) disarming many of its own fighters in order to send their weapons over the border to Cote d’Ivoire. Diplomats say Cote d’Ivoire is the main backer of MODEL and it is an open secret in both countries that many MODEL fighters previously fought with pro-government militia groups in Cote d’Ivoire’s own civil war. Earlier this year, diplomats and UN officials in Monrovia expressed fears that LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) was trying to withdraw much of its heavy weaponry into Sierra Leone and Guinea. Moses Jarbo, the executive director of the National Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration and Rehabilitation Commission said on Wednesday he had received reports that some MODEL fighters in the port city of Buchanan had complained that their arms were taken away from them by senior commanders well before the start of the UN disarmament process. "We are aware of this information from those fighters about their arms taken away,” Jarbo said. “ Let it be clear that the movement of arms outside of Liberia is a serious violation of the comprehensive agreement and this is a serious matter and we are monitoring it.” MODEL's chief military commander, general Boi Blehju Boi denied point blank that his organisation had returned these weapons to Cote d’Ivoire. "This is frustrating and unfortunate news which I heard myself,” he told IRIN. “We took arms from our fighters a few months back because of cries by some citizens in southeastern Liberia of harassment by our fighters. We did this to minimise our men from roaming with arms," the general said. Boi said MODEL had reissued these weapons to its fighters so that they could hand them over to the UN peacekeepers.“Those were the same arms that some of our fighters are handing over to UNMIL,” he said. Former combatants must hand over a weapon or ammunition if they are to be admitted to the cantonment centres already operating in Buchanan and the northern town of Gbarnga. Two more cantonment sites are due to open next week at VOA on the outskirts of Monrovia and at Tubmanburg 60 km north of the capital. Each one is due to process up to 250 new admissions per day. The former combatants undergo a week of screening at the cantonment sites, during which they receive medical treatment and therapy to help them get over the horrors of war. They are also asked what kind of training they want to help them get a new job in civilian life. They receive US$ 150 in cash upon their discharge, with a second payment of US $150 promised three months later once they have returned to their home community. Jarbo said the process, which began in Gbarnga last week and was extended to Buchanan on Tuesday, was progressing smoothly. He revealed that UNMIL was looking at opening several new cantonment sites. "In fact, we are looking at opening six additional cantonment and disarmament sites in other parts of the country which will add up to the already four sites we have. This would enable more fighters to disarm", Jarbo said. UNMIL said just over 15 percent of those disarmed so far were child soldiers. During the first week, 275 youths under the age of 18 reported for disarmament, of whom 37 were girls. The 1,514 adult soldiers reporting for demobilisation included 91 women. Weapons surrendered included rifles, machine guns, rocket propelled grenade launchers, mortars, pistols and hand grenades. UNMIL officials stressed the importance of collecting ammunition too. So far, 114 mortar rounds, 353 rocket-propelled grenades and 86 hand grenades have been handed in. In February, at a meeting of UN officials in Dakar, Senegal, Jacques Klein, the UN special representative to Liberia, estimated there were about three weapons per combatant floating around Liberia. But UNMIL disarmament experts say privately that even in the most successful disarmament campaigns, only half the total number of weapons in circulation get handed in.