- KABUL (AFP) - The disarmament
of some 100,000 Afghan militiamen could start as early as next month following
a long-delayed reshuffle of the defence ministry, United Nations (news
- web sites) officials said.
-
- UN senior adviser Sultan Aziz said disarmament could
begin in late October with pilot programs to disarm 1,000 men each in the
northern city of Kunduz, Gardez in the southeast and the main northern
city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
-
- "Within that first month we should be able to cover
both Kunduz and Gardez and then we would move to Mazar," he told reporters.
-
- The disarmament drive could then move to southern city
Kandahar and the capital Kabul from early December.
-
- President Hamid Karzai on Saturday announced key new
appointments to the defence ministry, under a reform drive aimed at allowing
the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of militiamen, many of
whom are from private armies loyal to warlords and anti-Taliban Northern
Alliance figures.
-
- The UN had called for urgent reform of the ethnic Tajik-dominated
ministry, saying it needed to be more representative of Afghanistan (news
- web sites)'s ethnic mix before disarmament could start.
-
- Eight appointments were given to members of the Pashtun
majority, who feel they have been sidelined in the Tajik-dominated post-Taliban
administration.
-
- The deputy ministerial position has been given to a Pashtun,
Major General Farooq Wardak.
-
- He replaced General Bismullah Khan, a close ally of powerful
Tajik Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who was made army
chief.
-
- Five Tajiks, four Hazaras, two Uzbeks, one Baluchi and
one Nuristani were also named to new positions, the ministry said.
-
- Fahim had been accused of packing the ministry with fellow
Tajiks from the powerful anti-Taliban Northern Alliance faction which dominates
the government of Karzai, himself a Pashtun.
-
- Militiamen had been reluctant to hand over weapons while
the ministry was dominated by a rival faction.
-
- The disarmament drive is aimed at disabling private warlord
armies and militia factions who are accused of fuelling rife insecurity
through ongoing clashes.
-
- "We want to focus on those who are factional groups
because they're the people that are threatening people in different areas,"
Aziz said.
-
- The biggest challenge would be finding jobs for tens
of thousands of former militiamen, he said.
-
- "This means that security has to improve and it
also means that the ability of the government to expand the economic base
has to proceed accordingly to allow to absorb people into meaningful jobs."
-
- Employment schemes are being worked out with the government,
UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and donor countries.
- "The idea is not only just to provide work but
also to provide the possibility for businesses so people can actually get
out of the black economy and start operating in a proper and profitable
manner," Aziz said.
-
-
- Comment
- From Billy-Joe..Mauldin
- 9-22-3
-
- What a joke! Are these people stupid or suicidal? The
Afghanis have not been dumbed down like "western" people have.
Remember the "warlords" of Mogadishu. Further, neither Russia
or the US could not disarm these "free, liberated" people.
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