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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Afghans begin disarmament process |
| 2004-05-17 |
| The Afghan government has launched a nationwide campaign to disarm the country’s militia forces, seen as crucial to the holding of elections. The Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) initiative has been running as a pilot programme in five Afghan regions since October. The United Nations-backed plan is for 40,000 former fighters to be demobilised by the end of June. But UN officials say that some regional leaders are jeopardising the process. The campaign was launched at a Kabul military base where a former anti-aircraft defence unit ceremonially handed over its missiles. But most of the missiles did not look especially threatening. Many had holes in, and several were missing their nose cones. Major Jerry Knight, a British officer watching the handover, admitted that in their current state none of them would work. "But with a bit of loving care to the electrics and some explosives and propellant, some of them could be brought back into service. So there is value in removing this stuff from the streets," he said. It was perhaps not the most convincing start to this nationwide disarmament campaign. The UN officials who run it admit that it is going to be difficult, especially when it comes to persuading powerful regional leaders to comply: men such as Ismail Khan, the governor of Herat, or Mohammed Atta in Mazar-e-Sharif . One issue is that no-one really knows how many men they control. Nationwide, the estimate is that there are a 100,000 militia fighters, but no-one believes that. In many cases commanders have given inflated figures, partly to enhance their local status and power, but also in the hope of claiming more funds for demobilising their men. Yet some Afghans are concerned the Western-backed disarmament programme is uneven, pressuring some commanders but not others, and therefore risking renewed instability. The picture is just as confusing with heavy weapons like missiles and tanks. They are all supposed to be in central government control by the time elections are held in September. But disarmament officials still do not have an accurate inventory of what is hidden around the country. Some Western diplomats say even the Defence Minister, Qasim Fahim, is a problem on this issue, dragging his feet on revealing what weapons his supporters still control. Yet as one political analyst argues, with the elections approaching, no-one has any incentive to come clean right now. Everyone with an armed force is bargaining right now for their position after the elections are over. |
| Posted by:Zenster |