‘31,000 ex-rebel combatants demobilised so far’: Darfur DDR Commission

The Sudanese Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration Commission (SDDRC) in Darfur has announced that 31,000 of the first batch of 45,000 ex-rebel combatants have been re-integrated in the society.

Gen. Salah El Tayeb, SDDRC commissioner-general told reporters in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, on Sunday that about 165,000 ex-fighters in total are to be demobilised and re-integrated under the Darfur peace agreements.

He said that the Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) programme of the first batch is implemented in collaboration with the Zakat (Islamic alms) Chamber.

The SDDRC will now proceed demobilising a group of 75,000 to 80,000 former rebels fighters, currently stationed in a camp near El Fasher. The combatants of the breakaway Justice and Equality Movement-Sudan faction have all been demobilised last year.

The commissioner-general further warned for the failure of the Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration programme, which would “cause the ex-combatants to take up their arms again in a new insurgency”.

The security arrangements, as stipulated in the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), were supposed to be implemented within 45 days after the conclusion of the peace agreement. Yet, in August last year, the first batches started with the DDR programme.