Global Policy Forum

By David Lewis

Nearly 4,000 fighters in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo handed in their weapons this week, more than doubling the number disarmed in the lawless region since September, an army officer said on Tuesday. The militiamen who disarmed are based in the Ituri region, where fighting has damaged efforts by Congo to recover from a wider five-year war, but they are not from groups blamed for killing nine U.N. Bangladeshi peacekeepers in February.

Although thousands of militiamen are still at large in the mineral-rich region, killing, raping and looting in an ethnic conflict over resources, U.N. officials and diplomats said the large-scale disarmament was a significant step forward. "There were about 3,900 militiamen and they have all handed in their weapons. There was no hesitation, the commanders and the soldiers have agreed," said Colonel Francois-Xavier Duku, head of a U.N.-backed disarmament programme in Ituri. "They decided to do so because they saw the area had been controlled by the army and they only had one choice, either rebel or give in," said Duku, adding 700 soldiers were deployed last week to the town of Aru where fighters disarmed.

Before this week, the $10.5 million disarmament programme in Ituri had collected weapons from just 3,800 fighters since September.

UN Hails Disarmament

"I think this is excellent news," said Dominique McAdams, who heads the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ituri. "Having said that, we need to make sure the principles of the (disarmament) programme are put in place and respected," she said, adding the fighters must go to a transit site and be given the choice of returning to civilian life or joining the army.

Fighting between Hema and Lendu militias and brutal attacks on civilians near the regional capital of Bunia have forced about 100,000 people to flee their homes since December. The conflict is rooted in land and commercial rivalries in an area rich in gold and diamonds. Nearly 5,000 U.N. peacekeepers are based in Ituri and Congo's army has pledged to send thousands more troops to try to stamp out the violence.

The fighting was thrust into the international spotlight in February when nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in an ambush and U.N. troops responded by killing at least 50 militiamen in a gunbattle last week. Congo, a former Belgian colony, is battling to recover from a wider 1998-2003 war that at one point sucked in six African countries.

The fighters who disarmed this week were from the FAPC militia controlled by Jerome Kakwavu, who is now a general in Congo's new national army and lives in the capital Kinshasa. Duku said they handed in assault rifles, mortars, rocket launchers, heavy machineguns and other weapons. The fighters get $50 in exchange for their weapons.

The large-scale disarmament followed a visit to the region last week by Congo's Defence Minister Adolphe Onusumba. "If this works, this is great as it neutralises one of the armed groups in Ituri," said a Western diplomat, who declined to be named.

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