Commission Lauds Commitment of Partners in Realizing Demobilization, Reintegration Program

Addis Ababa ,December 2/2023(ENA) The continued commitment of stakeholders for the realization of the National Demobilization and Reintegration (NDR) program has been encouraging, National Rehabilitation Commissioner Teshome Toga said. 

The commission has embarked on engagements and consultations with numerous partners, including the national and United Nations (UN) systems and regional states level. 

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Teshome said the preparation activity is getting finalized to start the implementation of the demobilization activity for ex-combatants. 

Preparation of working documents, extensive discussions with regional states, creating common understanding, and strong engagements with partners were among the activities done so far. 

According to him, the commission has faced no major challenges in its preparation stage. But the program needs huge resources and considerable time to realize. 

The engagements of stakeholders have been quite good and encouraging, the commissioner stated, adding that the realization of the program will not be viable without the strong engagements of partners and all concerned parties in the form of financial support, providing training, creating job opportunities, among others. 

Regarding the next priority of the commission, Teshome elaborated that once we fully finalize the preparation soon, the commission will start demobilization activities shortly. 

The commission targets to implement the demobilization process at a time, while the reintegration process may take some steps due to its complicated nature, he elaborated. 

Handing biometric ID cards, identifying areas of engagements based on their choice --- individually or in teams, among others, are the intended activities to realize the actual reintegration program.  

The National Rehabilitation Commission, in collaboration with pertinent stakeholders, has so far identified 371,971 ex-combatants.

The size of the ex-combatants requires adequate resources, the commissioner pointed out. 

The National Rehabilitation Commission was established in December 2022 to carry out the National Demobilization and Reintegration Program (NDRP).