Press releases

New publication \ Does the DDR pilot process in Mali need to be stopped?

In BICC Policy Brief 8\2019 the author Claudia Breitung gives policy recommendations on requirements for successful disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) in Mali.

Even though several key requirements for DDR in Mali are in place (institutional framework, key guiding documents and cantonment sites to assemble the forces), the DDR process is years behind schedule. The main reason for the delay in starting the wider DDR process is connected to the lack of political commitment and the erosion of trust between the signatory parties of the Algiers Peace Agreement from 2015.
Moreover, DDR will also need to look beyond the existing peace agreement and address violence in the  central region of Mali, the author Claudia Breitung explains. In the absence of a DDR frame- work for armed groups in the centre, one potential  way forward that is being discussed by MINUSMA and  the CNDDR is to conduct disarmament and violence  reduction activities targeting the communities at  large. To be meaningful and to have a sustainable  impact, such measures would, however, need to be  closely linked with other stabilisation and development efforts in that region. 
BICC Policy Brief 8\2019 gives the following recommendations:
\ Get agreement on integration modalities before advancing with global DDR in Mali.
\ Understand security sector reform as a prerequisite for DDR
\ Reframe the discourse on non-state armed groups
\ Address root causes of the conflict and respond to grievances non-state actors have
Press release “Neue Publikation \ Muss der Pilotprozess zu Entwaffnung, Demobilisierung und Reintegration in Mali gestoppt werden?“ (in German)