Sudan says demobilized 4718 ex-rebel fighters in 2015
August 18, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s National Council for the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (NCDDR) revealed that 4718 former rebel combatants have been demobilized in 2015 while 4,003 others were integrated into the civic institutions.
In press statements on Thursday, the Council of Ministers spokesperson, Omer Mohamed Salih said the disarmament and demobilizations are basic requirements for achieving peace, saying the process was funded by the Ministry of Finance, Zakat (ulms) Chamber besides foreign funding from Japan and Spain.
He pointed the ex-fighters have been accommodated in agricultural, mineral and water harvest projects, saying the Council of Minister hailed the NCDDR efforts to integrate the combatants into the civil life.
In 2013, Sudan and South Sudan agreed on joint cooperation in the areas of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, community security projects and control of small arms as well as promoting peace building between border communities.
Last December, the government said it has completed the first stage of a plan aimed at collecting heavy weapons from Darfur.
Speaking to the parliament in February, minister of interior Ismat Abdel Rahman, said the proliferation of armaments in Darfur remains “a security worry”. He further pointed that millions of small arms are in the hands of Darfur citizens.
The Sudanese army and its allied militias have been fighting a number of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.
(ST)