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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: 700 Mayi-Mayi elements demobilised in Kindu

NAIROBI, 24 November 2003 (IRIN) - Some 700 people associated with Mayi-Mayi militias were demobilised in Kindu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Saturday by the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUC, in cooperation with forces of the seventh military region of the unified national army.

A statement issued by MONUC on Monday reported that the 700 individuals - including women, children and the elderly - who opted to return to civilian life, were part of a larger group of about 2,000 fighters, the remainder of whom asked to be integrated into the national army.

According to MONUC, those who wished to join the national army were transported to Camp Lwama, some seven kilometres from Kindu, while those who wished to return to civilian life were registered and photographed, after surrendering their weapons and military uniforms to the seventh military regional command.

MONUC said that similar operations were planned for the near future, as there were "large numbers" of Mayi-Mayi forces who were already cantoned and awaiting either demobilisation, or integration into the national army. However, MONUC cautioned that this increasing demobilisation of ex-combatants would require humanitarian assistance, particularly with regard to training and reintegration of former combatants, including children.

The leadership of the DRC's newly unified national military was inaugurated on 5 September in the capital, Kinshasa. As part of the power-sharing accord reached at the end of the inter-Congolese dialogue, former belligerents - namely, those of the former Kinshasa government, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), the Mouvement de liberation du Congo, RCD-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation, RCD/National and Mayi-Mayi militias - agreed to share control of a unified national military.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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