The United Nations Coordination Centre (UNMACC) in collaboration with the Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reintegration, and Resettlement (DDR/RR) division of MONUSCO in South Kivu will be holding a weapons destruction ceremony this Thursday 09 May 2013. The weapons that will be destroyed have been collected through the demobilization process of ex combatants from rebel groups operating in the Eastern DRC.
The DDR/RR section of MONUSCO supports and carries the voluntary disarmament of illegal armed groups, including the FDLR, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Since its inception, the DDR/RR has already recovered more than 1,600 weapons and more than 60,000 rounds of ammunition from foreign ex-combatants and 1,600 weapons and more than 43 000 rounds of ammunition from Congolese ex-combatants.
UNMACC is the mine action section of MONUSCO. Since commencing mine action activities in DRC in 2002, UNMACC and partners have removed 3,471 landmines, and destroyed 194,997 Unexploded Ordnance, and 2,227,564 pieces of small arms ammunition. In October 2012, UNMACC organized a weapons destruction ceremony with DDR/RR in Goma, North Kivu and destroyed more than 600 weapons,
This weapons destruction ceremony has been supported through the use of a specialized ‘hydraulic shears’ machine that was made available through the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
The ceremony will take place this Thursday 09 May 2013, from 09.30am at the Adikivu PakBatt Base in Bukavu, South Kivu.
For further information please contact:
Michelle Healy, Programme Officer UNMACC Kinshasa/DRC, mhealy@macc-drc.org, +243 82500182