The Inquirer
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted May 7, 2004

Ahead of the formal launching of the DDRR program in Nimba County, ex-GOL militiamen in the county are in high gear to “totally” disarm from their “hearts” to UNMIL.

The seemingly tired fighters have already designed a system to ensure the successful implementation of the program when it is due.

At meeting in Ganta yesterday involving a cross-section of ex-fighters with UNMIL deputy force commander Joseph Owonibi, the ex-fighters through their spokesman, former GOL.(rtd) Gen. Francis Menwon assured the peace-keeping force of the willingness and anxiety on the part of the militiamen to disarm in the county.

Accordingly, Gen. Menwon said, a series of programs involving traditional and opinion leaders along with mask dancers, cultural performers have been organized to grace the commencement and official launch of the DDRR program in the county.
Gen. Menwon who himself is the senior advisor and co-ordinator of the self-initiated locally based consientization program, noted among other things that the program is designed in such a way that the locals would be informed and convinced that the fighters have totally disarmed with their arms and hearts so as to ensure again, their co-existence with their families.

For his part, the co-Chairman of the Nimba initiative, Strike Force Chief of Staff Adolphus S. Dolo, alias Peanut Butter, also disclosed that bill boards depicting the DDRR have already been printed and are to shortly be mounted in the major cities and towns in the county to highlight the total willingness to disarm in the county.

Earlier, the UNMIL deputy Commander Joseph Owonibi, commended the ex-fighters in Nimba County for their role played so far in stabilizing conditions in the county and also for carrying out voluntary disarmament ahead of the DDRR program itself.

He however, urged the fighters to continue their good job by protecting their own families in the county, noting that UNMIL was on the road map of achieving total peace in the country. He then used the occasion to inform the fighters that his mission in the county was to among other things confirm selected sites for the pending DDRR program in the county.