Bukavu, 9 May 2013 – The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center organized weapons demolition operation on 9 April 2013 in Bukavu, the capital city of the South Kivu province in collaboration with the Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reintegration and Resettlement section (DDRRR) of the United Nations Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) to destroy the weapons collected from the ex-combatants and armed groups from different parts of Bukavu. Altogether 114 small-caliber firearms and over 6,000 ammunitions were destroyed. The event was attended by local provincial political and military officials as well as representatives of MONUSCO and civil society organizations.

The initiative was aimed at diminishing the flow of the small-caliber weapons and contributing to the eradication of the illegal detained weapons with a view to enhancing stability and peace in the province.

For MONUSCO DDRRR officials, such operations will contribute to the weakening of both local and foreign armed groups active in the province. According to DDRRR officials, combatants of the different armed groups operating on the Congolese soil borrow weapons from each other. As an illustration, the 114 weapons destroyed constitute light weaponry for an armed group with two combat companies.

Since its creation within MONUSCO, DDRRR section has so far collected about 1,600 weapons and 60,000 ammunitions from the foreign ex-combatants and over 1,600 weapons and 43,000 ammunitions from the Congolese ex-combatants. As part of the DDRRR programme, over the same period, MONUSCO repatriated throughout the United Nations High Commissioner Office for Refugees (UNHCR) 7,015 Rwandan nationals including 2.321 ex-combatants of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR); 3,203 dependents and 1491 civilians.
Biliaminou Alao/ MONUSCO