Sierra Leone: UN mission begins weapons destruction and recycling

Close to 10,000 weapons recovered from warring parties in Sierra Leone will be destroyed and recycled at various locations around the country in a process that began today in Freetown, according to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

The weapons were collected through the National Commission on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (NCDDR). They will be cut by machines and converted into an estimated 4,000 productive tools - hoes, sickles, cutlasses, shovels, axes, and garden implements - with the participation of ex-combatants, UNAMSIL said.

The tools will then be distributed to former soldiers within the disarmament programme's reintegration schemes.

The destruction process will continue through 18 June in Lungi, Moyamba, Bo, Kenema, Daru, Mile 91 and Port Loko, with approximately 450 weapons destroyed per day. UNAMSIL is supervising the project at each location.