UN disarms 18 000 ex-rebels

2005-02-16 22:23

Bujumbura - UN peacekeepers have disarmed about 18 000 ex-fighters from Burundi's main former rebel group, but another 3 000 one-time insurgents belonging to another five organisations are thus far refusing to give up their weapons, an army official said on Wednesday.

The 18 000 ex-rebels from the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) voluntarily gave up their arms in cantonment camps in an operation that began on January 25, General Germain Niyoyankana said.

"... but those belonging to the other five small movements do not want to join the camps", he said.

Niyoyankana said authorities would "patiently wait for" the 3 000 former rebels from the other groups to follow suit.

In addition to those who have disarmed, a Burundian army source who requested anonymity said about 9 000 ex-FDD fighters were helping the military pursue the country's lone remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL).

General Niyoyankana heads the new Burundi army which was formed last December and is composed of the old army plus the six rebel groups that have signed a peace agreements with the government.

The old army had 43 000 soldiers who were joined by close to 30 000 reformed rebels, leaving the military - which is supposed to have only 30 000 troops - with a serious personnel surplus.

Niyoyankana said he was attempting to begin to address the imbalance by sending about half the soldiers from the old army back to their barracks.

Burndi is emerging from an 11-year-old civil war that claimed more than 300 000 lives, many of them from the Tutsi minority.

- AFP