Goma, 20 November 2013 – In a special ceremony held on Wednesday 20 November 2013 in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) symbolically destroyed a pile of weapons of war and other unexploded ordnance collected from ex-combatants of various armed groups.

On this occasion, about 1,000 weapons and 40,000 rounds of ammunitions were destroyed by the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) and MONUSCO’s Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reintegration and Resettlement (DDR/RR) section.

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of MONUSCO, Martin Kobler, his deputy in charge of the Rule of Law and Operations in the east of the country, Abdallah Wafy, and other senior MONUSCO officials attended the ceremony, along with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflicts, Ms. Leila Zerrougui, and the Representative the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the DRC and a delegation of provincial and traditional authorities, led by the province’s Governor, Julien Paluku Kahongya, were also present.

In her remarks, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflicts, Ms. Leila Zerrougui, said she was delighted to witness the destruction of these weapons, which, she said, had been carried by children and had been used to kill and to destroy villages. « I return to New York, feeling more hopeful than I did when coming here,” she said.

The head of MONUSCO, Martin Kobler, said he had seen “horrific battles taking place not far from here, in Munigi.” Then, after noting with satisfaction that the present ceremony was being held on the 100^th day since he arrived in the country, the Special Representative concluded: “We are going to fight for a lasting peace in the DRC and in the sub-region”.

The Governor of the province, Julien Paluku, expressed hope to see “these weapons replaced, within three months, by potatoes and sweet potatoes grown by women returnees from Rutshuru and Nyirangongo”.

The weapons destroyed on this occasion, were collected between 12 October 2012 and 13 November 2013 from ex-combatants of various armed groups who surrendered to MONUSCO’s DDR/RR teams.

MONUSCO/Maïmouna Traoré