CAR: The hopes and hurdles of DDR in CAR

Pacifying the six rebel groups that hold sway across the north and northeast of the Central African Republic (CAR) is both a key component of the country’s security reform and a prerequisite for the economic development needed to end the spiral of armed conflict and criminality that has dogged the state since 1996. But funding shortfalls and the 12 January 2012 arrest of a prominent rebel leader have put the brakes on the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process, the active phase of which got under way in August 2011.