Reintegration of Ethiopia’s Sizeable Ex-combatants Requires More Resources: Commissioner

Reintegration of Ethiopia’s Sizeable Ex-combatants Requires More Resources: Commissioner© Provided by Ethiopian News Agency (ENA)

Addis Ababa, July 21/2023(ENA)፡- Ethiopia’s disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation (DDR) program requires mobilization of adequate resources for the reintegration of the large number of ex-combatants in the country, National Rehabilitation Commissioner Teshome Toga told ENA.

The commissioner noted that Ethiopia’s size of ex-combatants is one of the largest by its own standard or the standard of other countries.

The National Rehabilitation Commission has so far identified 371,971 ex-combatants which need to be engaged in development, peace and democracy.

According to Teshome, 75,000 ex-combatants will be rehabilitated by the end of this year.

The commission has embarked on engagements and consultations with numerous partners from the national and United Nations (UN) systems and regions that have concern with the DDR program in the past six months.

The engagements have been pretty good and all the regions have expressed their commitment to fully support and implement the DDR program as part of the cessation of hostilities agreement signed in Pretoria, South Africa, he elaborated.

“We have had engagements and consultations with regions which have concerns with the DDR program. That has also been progressing well. All the regions have expressed their commitment to fully support and implement the DDR program because the DDR program is part of the cessation of hostilities agreements.”

However, the commissioner stressed that the program needs resources mobilization urgently to reintegrate the ex-combatants.

Despite very extensive consultations and engagement with our partners as well as different sectors of the society, there is still huge gap in resources as “leaving the ex-combatants unattended is risky.”

He pointed out that the size of the ex-combatants requires adequate resources. “The project cost is not small one. Of course, we have other priorities in the country that have made resource mobilization a bit of a challenge. But now this is something that we have to do and implement because if you disarm ex-combatants and leave them unattended, there is risk involved.”

The National Rehabilitation Commission has developed a program framework and a project document that will enable it to mobilize resources, it was learned.

“In that regard, we had very extensive engagements with our partners and different sectors of the society. We did this with international major donors, continental organizations, sub-regional organizations, IGAD and others. So, our assessment is that we want to do it as fast as we can. But given the circumstances here and there, we have a very long way to go and achieve it,” Teshome said.

The commissioner underlined that as the government is working by providing institutional support, donors which have keen interest in peace and stability in Ethiopia as well as the private sector should maximize their assistance.

He disclosed that there are other partners who have shown willingness in the United Nations system, bilateral and multilateral organizations, including World Bank, the European Union, and African Union. “This combination of contributions would make the program a successful one.”

But so far the engagement needs immediate mobilization of resources, Teshome stressed.

Most of the diplomatic communities have expressed support, he stated, adding that they are working with their capitals.

Particularly, the United Nations system is supporting Ethiopia’s DDR program, the commissioner revealed.

Teshome hopes that by the end of the year, the commission will be getting the necessary resources.