A 6.7 million dollars to finance the National Rehabilitation Commission (NRC)'s disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) program for nearly 370,000 ex-combatants, was pledged by the Japanese government. The financing will be channelled to the design, implementation and monitoring of the DDR program across eight regional states. Shibata Hironori, ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia, signed the agreement last week at the Ministry of Finance headquarters on King George VI St with Tesfalem Yihdego, deputy commissioner of the Commission and Semerta Sewasew, state minister for Finance. Ethiopia's third DDR program follows a 174-million-dollar effort over five years following the conflict with Eritrea. The first one was a 198 million-dollar project following the fall of the Derg regime 32 years ago. The government began efforts to mobilise funds to finance the DDR programs shortly after a cessation of hostilities agreement was signed in November 2022 after one of the bloodiest wars in the country's history. Temesgen Tilahun, the former deputy commissioner at the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), replaced Teshome Toga last month to head the NRC. The UN Department for Peace-Keeping Operations (DPKO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank have carried out disarmament and demobilisation processes globally, with 73 implementations since their inception in the 1970s.
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