What place for religious actors in the reintegration of ex-combatants? Religion fostering human security in South Sudan’s disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process

Abstract

Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes have been prominently featured in United Nations’ peacebuilding operations from the last decade of the twentieth century onwards. Yet, the place occupied by religious actors in the drafting and implementation of DDR programmes has been largely absent both in policy and in academic literature. The present work identifies the assets brought by religious actors to human security in peacebuilding contexts and makes the argument for the same assets to be used in DDR. Thus, the present work aims to contribute to the development of DDR policy and to grasp how an integrated DDR approach that includes religious actors is needed to sustain peace. The South Sudanese DDR processed is analysed as a case study on how the failure of past DDR programmes could be mitigated if religious actors were approached as central to the reintegration of ex-combatants. The present discussion thus makes an analysis of past DDR lessons in the South Sudanese context and argues that the DDR process cannot result in sustainable peace if religious actors are not taken into account. Keywords: Disarmament; Demobilisation; Reintegration; Ex-combatants; Religious actors; South Sudan; Human security; Peacebuilding