Friday 19, August 2005
"Bikes for guns" deal lures weapons from Congo bush
Reuters
By David Lewis
LUBUMBASHI, Congo, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Bicycles, rather than Western-backed demobilisation programmes, have succeeded in disarming thousands of gunmen in the lawless north of Congo's Katanga province, the head of a local organisation said.
Frustrated by the slow pace of an official disarmament programme, Reverend Daniel Mulunda and his peace-building organisation, known as PAREC, have disarmed more than 4,000 militiamen, giving them bicycles in return for their heavy weapons, assault rifles and grenades.
Two years after Congo's last war was officially declared over, gunmen who were armed by various sides during the five-year battle over power and natural resources still roam much of the country's east, including copper-rich Katanga.
A lack of trust between former belligerents now in a power-sharing government, continued fighting in the east and rampant corruption in the Kinshasa administration have delayed integrating fighters into the new army and disarming the rest.
"Yes, this is the work of the national disarmament agency but they are not doing anything," Mulunda, also the spiritual adviser to President Joseph Kabila, told Reuters in his plush home in Lubumbashi, Katanga's provincial capital, on Thursday.
"They sit holding seminars while people are dying. We are giving them bicycles in exchange for gathering and destroying their weapons," he said, adding that PAREC had collected more than 4,300 weapons during two missions this year.
Bicycles are coveted items in much of Congo, where access to vehicles is often minimal and they are used for transporting farm produce or other goods.
SCEPTICS
Mulunda said sceptics were dubious about his plan to disarm Katanga's Mai Mai -- a pro-Kinshasa militia that fought across Congo against Rwandan-backed rebels -- but he received the backing of the president and some Katangan businessmen.
The success of his first mission in January prompted mining companies and banks operating in the mineral-rich province to provide more bicycles for a second trip into the bush in April.
"If I am given the support, between now and December, I will collect another 10,000 weapons," he said.
Once gathered, Mulunda said the weapons were destroyed but there are plans to turn the wooden rifle buts into artwork and the metal parts into agricultural tools.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been earmarked for disarming and demobilising fighters who took part in Congo's war -- a conflict that sucked in six countries and has killed nearly four million people, mostly from hunger and disease.
But thousands of Mai Mai, who were armed by Kinshasa but have since turned their guns on civilians, continue to roam the north of Katanga, causing violence aid agencies say is perpetuated by power brokers and ignored by the world.
"It is seven years since the children in my village went to school. How can I sit by and wait for the disarmament to happen while the Mai Mai wander around causing problems?" Mulunda asked.