Child soldiers disarmed in Congo's volatile east
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Reuters) -- More than 400 child soldiers were disarmed in the anarchic east of Congo in the first large-scale demobilization of former Congolese rebels, the United Nations said Monday.
U.N. officials said 850 tribal Mai Mai fighters, including 418 children, were demobilized Saturday in the eastern town of Kindu in a joint exercise by the U.N. mission and the newly installed Congolese army high command.
"We expect and hope a large number of other combatants will come in to demobilise," Eliane Nabaa, a U.N. spokeswoman in Kindu, told Reuters by telephone.
Democratic Republic of Congo's new army was formed in October under the terms of a peace deal to end five years of war in the former Zaire, aiming to forge government troops, various rebel groups and Mai Mai warriors into a national military.
Tens of thousands of Mai Mai fighters, who fight with bows, arrows and spears and who believe magic can turn flying bullets into water, are still at large in the dense eastern forests.
Officials said another 750 fighters were accepted into the new national army Saturday. Those rejected included 148 children, who were among those demobilized.
The operation was the first time Congo's new army had taken part in the demobilization of Congolese rebels. Last week, the army started the voluntary disarmament of 361 foreign fighters.
The presence of rebels from neighboring countries has been a major factor fueling war in the Congo, drawing invasions by foreign armies and sowing insecurity across a vast swathe of central Africa.
The Mai Mai fighters were not given cash for handing over their weapons but humanitarian organizations were standing by to provide emergency aid and food. Those who joined the army were given sacks of beans and cassava.
A peace deal between Congo's main warring factions was agreed in April and a transitional government has absorbed former rebel groups. But the east has remained volatile, shaken by sporadic fighting and ethnic massacres.
Mai Mai fighters were backed by the Kinshasa government during the war and fought the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma rebels. The former foes are both part of the Country's new army.
The demobilisation process will continue to be supervised by the United Nations, while the military command will concentrate on reintegrating fighters into the army, Nabaa said.
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