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Review the Disarmament Guidelines

The Analyst (Monrovia)
EDITORIAL
May 19, 2004
Posted to the web May 19, 2004
Monrovia
IN OUR BANNER story titled "MADNESS" we reported that a mob of ex-fighters
belonging to the former Government of Liberia (GOL) blocked the main route
between Paynesville and Congo Town, looted goods belonging to marketers and
shop owners, threw stones, and snatched cell phones, wrist watches, and other
valuables from innocent passers-by. The mob action that disrupted the quietude
of the Monrovia suburb of Paynesville and ELWA and left one person dead is the
result of attempts by the ex-fighters to remind the UNMIL authorities of the
arrears that have been pending since December last year.
UNMIL AUTHORITIES CLAIM the mob action referred to above was the result of
impatience and unruly behavior on the part of the ex-fighters. According to
them, the ex-fighter refused to wait for their time and abruptly turned out at
the 72nd Military Barracks, demanding to be transported to the cantonment site
in VOA. But the ex-fighters are saying something else. They are saying that
they should receive their arrears before the process continues with those who
have been disarmed and that the current procedure was intended to rob them of
their arrears.
SIMILAR SITUATION OCCURRED last December when the same GOL ex-fighters
reportedly refused to follow the timetable for disarmament and instead demanded
the compensation for the weapons they turned in. As the result of that
misunderstanding between UNMIL and the ex-fighters, five persons were killed,
and thousands of United States dollars worth of properties were either carted
away or damaged. No doubt this is unfortunate.
WHILE IS TRUE that the ex-fighters acted unruly, and unfortunately so, we think
there is a serious problem with the implementation of the DDRR procedures. For
instance, we don't understand why misunderstanding continues to exist between
UNMIL and the ex-fights on the same issue of compensation when the nation was
made to understand on April 13, 2004 that there were enough resources to start
and keep the DDRR programme going to its eventual end. It baffles us also that
there should be a problem arising from procedure interpretation when UNMIL has
at its disposal a huge propaganda machinery that runs twenty-four hours a day.
In our view, the fact that the confusion between UNMIL and the ex-fighters is
over the same issue points to two possibilities: either the fighters are not
getting the information or the procedures are convoluted and therefore not
working. There is something wrong here that must be corrected and corrected
immediately.
THIS IS NECESSARY and must take absolute priority if the DDRR programme proceed
smoothly. Not is it necessary for the process, but it is also mandatory because
the population cannot continue endure the danger of encountering rowdy mobs
every four to five months because a group fails to follow a procedure laid down
for them or because some bureaucrats refused to acknowledge the failure of a
system of procedures they have put in place. It must be remembered that each
time there is this misunderstanding, innocent people lose their lives. Not only
that, the property of poverty stricken Liberians taken away by hooligans
without compensation. This is happening under the glare of the largest yet
peace-keeping mission in Africa is baffling.
BY NOW THE issue of financial compensation in the DDRR process should by now be
considered cardinal to the success of the process, for, to think otherwise is
to live in outer space or in another world. There is no more time to brush it
aside unless somebody somewhere wants to drag the process for his own benefit
while the population continues to suffer and die. We think the decision to
withhold the compensation of the GOL ex-fighters who had already disarmed until
new entrants are processed is not working and should therefore be reviewed.
THE PEOPLE ARE tired of running and dying because of procedures that though
make a lot of sense on paper but that are not working in the fields. The
disarmament process must therefore be reviewed in light of the continued
compensation-related violence in the country, mainly the nation's capital that
has the largest concentration of UNMIL troops.

   

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