Peace process reaches crucial phase with launch of DDR process

//This is the second in a series of five special reports on the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) of former rebel fighters in the Great Lakes region. The third report, on Rwanda's DDR process, will be published next week on www.irinnews.org // Burundi's peace process entered a crucial phase on 15 November in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with the signing of the global peace pact between the Burundian government and main rebel movement, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD). Both parties committed themselves to implement accords reached on 8 October in Dar es Salaam and on 2 November in Pretoria, South Africa, spelling out how the political and military powers would be shared in Burundi. Apart from the sharing of power, the pact laid out the path for the start of a programme of disarmament, demobilisation and the reintegration of former fighters into civilian life - the culmination of any peace process. A key component of the Pretoria agreement is the Technical Forces Agreement, which provides for the transformation of the current national armed forces into a new military known as the National Defence Forces. This is to occur upon the completion of the demobilisation and reintegration programme. The forces agreement is being implemented in stages, starting with the disengagement of forces; the cantonment of troops; and the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of the former fighters. The Technical Forces Agreement set the time table for each component of the process, taking 2 November, the date of the agreement, as the starting date. It also shows the competence of each partner in the process, including the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), the Joint Ceasefire Commission (JCC) and the Transitional Government of Burundi (TGoB). According to the Technical Forces Agreement, the disengagement of forces and the permanent ceasefire - considered the requisites for the whole disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme - should have taken place a week after the signing of the accord. The cantonment and return of soldiers to their respective barracks was to have started 18 days after the agreement - on 20 November. The disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme would then start 30 days (in early December) after the signing of the agreement, under the supervision of the transitional government, AMIB and the JCC. In spite of all the parties' good will, the process failed to make headway as planned. On 4 December, the CNDD-FDD spokesman, Maj Gelase Ndabirabe, told IRIN that so far, 6,000 of their former fighters were assembled at Kibago Commune in the southern province of Makamba, ready for cantonment. A member of the Burundian government delegation at the negotiations with the CNDD-FDD, and now a member of the JCC, Col Edouard Nibigira, said the cantonment and return of soldiers to the barracks were subject to a number of conditions including the CNDD-FDD's participation in the JCC, the setting up of the joint military units, the formation of the transitional government, the disengagement of forces and the permanent ceasefire. Nibigira said the disengagement of forces and the permanent ceasefire had, so far, been respected. He told IRIN that in almost all the provinces except where the Forces nationales de liberation-Palipehutu is active, troops had left the battlefields and returned to barracks. The armed forces had also selected service personnel for the joint military units that are to be created with the CNDD-FDD. He said, "The cantonment of troops cannot start unless the CNDD-FDD send its representation to the Joint Ceasefire Commission." Nibigira also said four pre-assembly areas, which he declined to disclose for security reasons, had been identified for CNDD-FDD fighters. However, these combatants have started to assemble in the southern province of Makamba, the eastern province of Ruyigi and the northern province of Kayanza. So far, cantonment has been very slow. Only 192 of the CNDD-FDD faction led by Jean Bosco Ndayikengurukiye and those of the FNL of Alain Mugabarabona have reported at the sites in Bubanza Province. They had previously pledged to send 150 combatants per week until they reached 3,000. But Ndayikengurukiye's spokesman, Jerome Ndiho, said they would send no more until living conditions improved at the sites. However, substantial means have been provided for the DDR programme. A multidimensional regional trust fund, being prepared by the World Bank, estimates the cost of DDR in Burundi at US $80 million. Under this plan, the demobilised soldiers will get 18 months' salaries. "They may get less if the number of demobilised soldiers increases over the estimates," Marie Claire Nzeyimana, a communication associate at the World Bank Burundi Field Office, said. To facilitate the cantonment and demobilisation process, the parties had pledged to provide the JCC and AMIB complete information of their troops' numbers and equipment. This information would enable the two bodies to verify the numbers of fighters reporting to the cantonment areas for disarmament. "Even if they tell us the number, we will have to cross-check first," Gen Hadji Alioune Samba, the JCC chairman, told IRIN. However, and in spite of the absence of the CNDD-FDD in the commission, Samba said the commission was finalising the joint operational plan on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration that AMIB would implement. "As everybody is not there, we are working in harmonising everybody's rhythm," he said. Gen Ndayisaba, representing the transitional government in the JCC, said, "There is now an outline of how things will go and who will do what." After the designation of the pre-assembly areas, combatants will proceed to cantonment sites, then to disarmament corridors and finally to integration and demobilisation areas. During this entire process the government troops would return to their barracks and their weapons would be deposited in the armouries. Ndayisaba said that under the plan, combatants for the new army would be selected following well-defined criteria convened by the parties in the Technical Forces Agreement and grouped into different categories. Combatants who fail to meet the conditions for recruitment into the new security forces would be demobilised and handed to the national Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission. To this end, an executive secretariat has been set up, composed of senior army officers and civilians. CHILD SOLDIERS Child soldiers will be handed over to UNICEF, which is working with a national programme for the demobilisation and reintegration of such children. Focal points in all the provinces of the country have been trained while NGOs, which are to help in the reintegration process, have been identified. Other groups of foreign fighters and civilians enrolled before the cantonment process simply to increase the number of fighters would be handed over to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Burundian government, respectively. Finally, candidates to the integration in the national defence forces will undergo military training alongside selected candidates from the national armed forces. DEFENCE MILITIA, ARMED CIVILIANS A government defence militia, Guardians de la Paix (Guardians of Peace) and civilians will also be disarmed. Samba said that the government was responsible for disarming this youth militia and that "the JCC and AMIB will ensure that it is well done". Col Nibigira told IRIN that for other civilians bearing arms, the transitional government will create a special fund, an arms buy-back programme to encourage them to hand over their weapons. "Those who prefer to keep them will be obliged to get permits so that the government knows exactly who possess what type of weapons," he said. But speaking at a September conference on light weapons, Burundi's focal point for the elimination of these guns, Jean Claude Nkezabahizi, said there was a danger in arming civilians because there were already 200,000 guns in circulation illegally in the country. He said these guns posed a serious threat to national and regional security, and that if the disarmament process was to succeed, account must be taken of this menace.