AFGHANISTAN: Five ex-commanders surrender arms to DIAG

KABUL, 21 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Five ex-commanders in Afghanistan's southwestern Paktya province voluntarily surrendered 15 mt of ammunition, as well as more than 30 light and heavy weapons, to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme, officials from the UN-backed initiative announced on Tuesday in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Following the disarmament of Afghan militia forces under the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants programme, completed in late June, the Afghan government and the UN are now focusing on the DIAG initiative.

More than 60,000 former combatants had been disarmed under the DDR initiative, which took the international community almost 20 months and more than US $150 million to complete. In addition to the decommissioning of ex-combatants, about 35,000 light and medium weapons and 11,004 heavy arms were collected across the country.

“Commanders from Paktya - Torab Khan, Sardar, Safihullah, Zahirullah and Rozi Khan - surrendered 15 mt of ammunition, as well as a mixture of 38 light and heavy weapons, including mortars and rocket-propelled grenades to the DIAG weapons collection team in Gardez, capital of Paktya," Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, public information officer at the DIAG programme, said.

"The arms and ammunition will be transferred to Pul-i-Charki central weapons collection point in Kabul. They will be used by the security forces of Afghanistan if serviceable and destroyed if in poor condition," Nawzadi added.

While commenting on surrendering the arms, Leo Dobbs, public information officer at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), remarked: "By voluntarily surrendering their weapons, the five commanders are both complying with laws governing the possession of weapons in Afghanistan and actively supporting the DIAG process, which is aimed at consolidating peace, the rule of law and prosperity in Afghanistan".

The handover ceremony, the second to take place in Gardez in less than a month, was presided over by Paktya Governor Hakim Tanaiwal and attended by local tribal leaders, former mujahedeen commanders, provincial council members and religious scholars, as well as representatives of the Afghanistan New Beginnings Programme (ANBP), the official name for the DDR process, and UNAMA.

But the challenge of collecting weapons in a country scarred by over two decades of conflict is far from over. There are still between 1,800 and 2,000 illegal armed groups still threatening stability across the country, according to DIAG.

"We call on all illegal armed groups to voluntarily surrender their arms in order to bring peace and stability to the war-ravaged nation and bring rule of law instead of gun," Nawzadi maintained.

Financed by the Japanese government and overseen by the United Nations, DIAG is run by the Afghan interior and defence ministries and the national security agency.

To date, the DIAG programme has collected 17,655 weapons, as well as 25,760 pieces of boxed and 72,253 pieces of unboxed ammunition from across the country. Of those weapons, 4,857 were handed over by 124 candidates who ran for last September's parliamentary and provincial council elections.

[ENDS]