By RFIPosted on 12-10-2019Modified on 12-10-2019 at 13:13
Malian Prime Minister Boubou Cissé ended Friday (October 11th) a 48-hour visit to the Mopti region. He launched the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) operation in central Mali. In this context, he visited Camp Soufroulaye, a locality near Mopti where should be quartered armed fighters.
In the Soufroulaye camp, military honors were paid to the Prime Minister. Later, Boubou Cissé confides the importance of the ceremony.
" Reducing or even completely eliminating the possession of weapons - be it weapons of war, whether small arms or light weapons - is important for the pursuit of this security, " he said. -He underlines.
In the courtyard, dozens of tents and other infrastructure await future ex-combatants affected by the DDR. Among them, ex-rebels in the north established in the center, alleged jihadists but also fighters of self-defense militias.
The leader of a militia has told RFI that his men " will come here soon, to make peace in the country, " before stating that he leads " more than 300 men ".
The pivot of the DDR operation in Mali, Zahabi Ould Sidi Mohamed, believes that there is a chance to seize to reduce insecurity.
" What is important is that we have an operational tool to disarm people but also to stabilize because there is no stability without disarmament, " he said.
The UN mission in Mali - the Minusma - is one of the funders of the operation that aims to peacefully disarm, eventually, about 8,500 weapon holders in the regions of Mopti and Ségou.
On the same subject
In Mali, the Prime Minister again visits the center of the country
Mali: demonstration in Sévaré against the presence of foreign troops
Mali: a common front of jihadist groups behind the recent attacks?
Mali: The jihadist group GSIM claims the attacks of Boulkessi and Mondoro
comments