The Disarmament, Demobilsation and Reintegration (DDR) Office of the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) on Monday 12 May 2014 organised a seminar in Daloa to sensitise ex-combatants to voluntarily hand over their weapons as a condition for obtaining community reintegration projects.



The seminar was in response to recommendations made by the youths and the Regional Council of Divo during the occasion of UN Days held between the 19 and 21 February 2014.



Some 350 ex-combatants and youths-at-risk in the Loh-Djiboua region attended the seminar presided over by the Prefect, Joseph Kpan Droh and attended by UNOCI representatives and officials of the national Authority for DDR (ADDR).



The Prefect made an effort to reassure sceptics that Ivorian authorities and the UN System were concerned about the wellbeing of ex-combatants. "You have often claimed that the government wanted to identify you in order to kill or arrest you, but those who believed the government have benefitted from projects while some have acquired certain trades," he told the ex-combatants.

UNOCI DDR representative in Daloa, Guy-Marie-Ange Houdegbe said these activities have been organized in accordance with recommendations of UN Security Council resolution 2000 and 2011 expressly directing UNOCI "to support Ivorian authorities in the collection of arms from ex-combatants in exchange for community projects."



The DDR representative in Guiglo, Abdou Ibrahim cited the example in his area saying the government and UNOCI have initiated seven projects for the benefit of 250 ex-combatants.



The ADDR representative Zoumana Coulibaly said disarmament and demobilisation were the conditions for the acquisition of reintegration projects financed by government and called on participants to inform their friends in possession of demobilization cards to apply for projects.