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30 June 2000: One Jordanian peacekeeper was killed and four wounded Friday when an escort group of five vehicles of the Jordanian UNAMSIL contingent was ambushed by unknown attackers about 20 kilometres west of Mile 91, a U.N. spokesman said. According to the spokesman, the Jordanian convoy was returning from Kenema to Freetown when it was came under attack at about 1:30 p.m. local time. UNAMSIL force commander Major-General Vijay Jetley said, however, that the peacekeepers were travelling from Masiaka to Mile 91 when they were attacked with guns and a rocket-propelled grenade. "After an exchange of firing, one Jordanian was killed and four others wounded, two of them seriously," the spokesman said. "The wounded have all been evacuated to Freetown where they are receiving medical care. Troops from the Jordanian battalion are currently patrolling the region where the incident took place and the U.N. mission is investigating further." In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement through his spokesman saying he was "appalled" by the attack. "The secretary-general expresses his deepest condolences to the family of the victim and to the government of Jordan and he offers his hope for the speedy recovery of those wounded," the spokesman said. "The secretary-general reiterates the United Nations' commitment to assisting the people of Sierra Leone to achieve lasting peace in their country." Nigerian peacekeeping troops are moving to reinforce U.N. positions at Mile 91, where humanitarian workers estimate some 49,000 internally displaced persons have gathered, a U.N. spokesman said in New York on Friday. The spokesman said the RUF had reportedly looted and burned villages in the Mile 91 area — a report first made on Wednesday by Sierra Leone Army spokesman Major John Milton but denied a day later by the UNAMSIL force commander, Major-General Vijay Jetley. Six Sierra Leone Army soldiers, including two captains, were abducted Wednesday during fighting between soldiers of the new SLA and ex-SLA soldiers — the so-called "West Side Boys" loyal to AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma — Sierra Leone Army spokesman Major John Milton said on Friday. He told reporters the soldiers had been taken into the bush. Milton said the AFRC no longer manned any checkpoints along the road between Freetown and Masiaka. Instead, he said UNAMSIL troops and army soldiers were in control of the road. Milton declined to say how many casualties there had been in Wednesday's fighting at Masiaka, but Reuters quoted military sources as saying 15 ex-SLA and six army soldiers were killed in the shootout. Milton said pro-government troops were engaged in a fight with the rebels to recapture Lunsar, which fell to the RUF last week after being abandoned by pro-government forces following similar inter-factional fighting. "We are encountering stiff resistance," he said. There was no independent confirmation of the report. Up to 30 percent of the 960,000 deaths attributable to malaria in Africa each year occur in countries beset by conflict, war or natural disasters, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday. A number of organisations which work in emergency situations gathered at WHO headquarters in Geneva on Friday to improve an action plan to improve malaria control response during and following emergencies. The Global Partnership to Roll Back Malaria has set a goal of halving malaria deaths worldwide in ten years. Partners include national governments, the WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the U.N. Development Programme, the World Bank, and bilateral development agencies. "This situation is serious, for example more people have died of malaria in Sierra Leone during the last eight years of ongoing conflict than from trauma injuries," said Richard Allan, WHO's Complex Emergencies focal person for Roll Back Malaria. "We must help people affected by complex emergencies to maintain health when at risk of malaria. First, we have to improve the global response. Today is the first time we have brought together Roll Back Malaria partners to discuss how best to improve activity in emergencies." The United Nations Security Council is close to approving
a British-sponsored The Nigerian Football Association (NFA) has protested against the shifting of Sierra Leone's July 8 World Cup qualifying match against Ghana from Freetown to Accra. NFA Secretary-General Ahmed Tijani Yusuf said on Wednesday. According to Nigeria's Post Express, Yusuf complained that asking Sierra Leone to play their Group B match in Accra amounted to giving an unfair advantage to Ghana. "We cannot relent in this regard. Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Sudan are in the same group, asking any of the teams to play host to another will amount to giving undue advantage to the hosting country," Yusuf said. He added that Nigeria had yet to be formally notified of the change. "Though we still regard it as a rumour, we will, however, leave no room to be manoeuvred out of the Korean/Japan fiesta," he said. "We will leave no stone unturned in the quest to get to the root of the matter." The Confederation of African Football (CAF) reportedly ordered the change of venue last week because of the security situation in Sierra Leone. The return leg will take place in Freetown next May. 29 June: The RUF has released 21 Indian peacekeepers held hostage in eastern Sierra Leone since early this month. The 21 were handed over to Liberian authorities late Wednesday at the Liberian border town of Foya, from where they were airlifted to Monrovia Thursday in a government-chartered helicopter. They are expected to arrive in Freetown on Friday. Liberian Information Minister Joe Mulbah said the peacekeepers, who were surrounded at Kuiva in May before being transferred to Pendembu and disarmed in early June, had been "unconditionally released." Earlier on Wednesday, Mulbah told BBC West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle that the "imminent release of the remaining peacekeepers was part of a deal under which the Sierra Leone rebels have been promised a cease-fire and a return to the negotiating table." The troops told reporters they had been well-treated by the RUF. "We had a good relationship with the RUF, no problem whatsoever," said Lieutenant-Colonel Amit Sharma. At Kailahun, more than 200 Indian peacekeeping troops and 11 military observers of various nationalities remain surrounded by RUF fighters. Mulbah said Liberia "wants the fighting to stop" in order to ensure their safe passage from the area. In New York, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the release of the U.N. troops. He said Annan, who had been in touch with Liberian President Charles Taylor regarding the hostages, hoped "this welcome step will be followed by the immediate and unconditional freedom of movement of the UNAMSIL personnel who still remain surrounded by the RUF in the area of Kailahun." Rival pro-government factions clashed at Masiaka on Wednesday, UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befacadu told reporters. "UNAMSIL has received reports from Jordanian peacekeepers close to Masiaka that they heard heavy firing at Masiaka," Befecadu said. "The exchange of fire was between government forces and former AFRC soldiers." The Associated Press quoted military officers as saying six new Sierra Leone Army soldiers and 15 ex-SLA troops — the so-called "West Side Boys" — were killed in the exchange. There was no independent confirmation of the numbers. U.N. peacekeepers were sent to Masiaka to restore order after the shooting, U.N. military spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Patrick Coker said on Thursday. AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma told BBC correspondent Lansana Fofana a group of soldiers known as the "Special Task Force" started the trouble when they attacked the West Side Boys while they were out on patrol. "Other sources however say the shootout was between the regular army and the West Side Boys," Fofana added. A similar outbreak of fighting between SLA soldiers and soldiers of the ex-SLA loyal to AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma led to the abandonment of pro-government positions at Lunsar last week and its subsequent recapture by the RUF. The United Nations Security Council is set to consider a
draft resolution A Zambian peacekeeper serving with UNAMSIL has died after contracting malaria, Zambian Deputy Defence Minister Mike Mulongoti said on Wednesday. Sierra Leone ranks last in the world in quality of life, according to the United Nations Human Development Report which was released on Thursday. The report, compiled by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), examined such factors as income, health care, life expectancy and education. Canada was ranked first of the 174 countries surveyed, followed by Norway, the United States, Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan and Britain. With Sierra Leone at the bottom of the list were Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Chad, Central African Republic and Mali. In addition to the rankings, the report this year examined the relationship between human rights and development, and proposed policies to promote and respect democracy. The UNDP said more respect for human rights and a commitment to a genuine democracy were needed for nations to lift themselves out of poverty. "You can't have human rights without human development and you can't have human development without human rights," said Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the UNDP. "They're a virtuous circle." 28 June: UNAMSIL force commander Major-General
Vijay Jetley travelled to Representatives of major diamond importing nations met in London Wednesday to discuss proposals by Britain, the diamond industry and diamond producing nations to curb the trade in conflict diamonds. "The problem of illicit diamonds fueling wars in Africa is an urgent one. Working together we must find solutions, and find them fast," said British Foreign Office Minister of State for Africa Peter Hain. He emphasised that while ways had to be found to keep rebels from using illicit diamonds to finance conflicts in Africa, legitimate diamond mining needed to be protected. Present at Wednesday's meeting were representatives from India, Israel, Belgium, the United States and Belgium, as well as observers from Russia and Canada. On the agenda was a proposal for a global certification scheme for rough diamonds using forgery-proof papers accompanying diamonds in sealed containers. Other proposals include greater regulation of diamond centers, inspection of imports, penalties for those dealing in conflict diamonds, and using banks which support the diamond industry to press for compliance with regulation. Further talks will be held in Antwerp on July 20 before a full ministerial meeting in South Africa in September. 27 June: Some 11 RUF fighters, including a senior commander, were killed Sunday when a government helicopter gunship attacked an RUF convoy transporting arms and ammunition from Makeni to reinforce the town of Lunsar, SLA spokesman Major John Milton said on Tuesday. There was no independent confirmation of the attack. Milton said the rebels had attacked two villages in Tonkolili District, burning homes and forcing residents to flee. He also said pro-government forces had resumed fighting in an effort to retake Lunsar, which has changed hands several times over the past month. RUF rebels looted food and burned down the villages of Komrabai, Mamilla and Robis, according to UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu. The three villages are situated near Mile 91, where humanitarian groups have distributed food and other supplies to tens of thousands of newly-displaced civilians. Monday's attacks followed a rebel buildup near government-held towns where relief supplies are being distributed. "The RUF lack food and logistics," Befacadu said on Tuesday. "The concentration of RUF (near Mile 91) could be to benefit from food in the area." She said rebels also reportedly attacked and burned villages on the island of Yelibuya off Sierra Leone's northwestern coast. Some 200 residents fled to the island's main wharf to seek protection in numbers. A gang of four CDF militiamen was prevented from robbing a civilian in Freetown Monday when four Nigerian UNAMSIL troops arrived and forced them to flee, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday. The four CDF members were later arrested and turned over to the police. UNAMSIL is investigating reports that hundreds of CDF militiamen have begun leaving the capital following orders from the Sierra Leone government that they be redeployed to the south, the spokesman added. So far, UNAMSIL reports there are still many CDF militiamen present at their main base in Freetown, the former Brookfields Hotel. Government and diamond industry representatives from Belgium, India, Israel and the United States are set to meet in London Wednesday for talks on how to stamp out the trade in "conflict diamonds," according to a foreign office spokesman. British Foreign Office Minister of State for Africa Peter Hain said this conference would be the first time government and diamond industry representatives from all the key importing countries of rough diamonds had met. "In this meeting we will consider how to bring together, implement and build upon the unprecedented proposals Britain and others have put forward in recent weeks," Hain said. Wednesday's meeting follows a talks in Kimberly, South Africa in May and by a working group meeting in Luanda, Angola in June. The "Kimbeley proposals" include a certification proposal to ensure diamonds had not originated in conflict zones, and the setting up of a working group. There are also plans for a ministerial meeting in September. On Monday, Indian diamond importers said they would not buy gemstones originating in African conflict zones. Britain has presented a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council to ban diamonds from rebel-held parts of Sierra Leone, and is planning to bring up the issue of "conflict diamonds" at the G8 meeting of industrialised nations in Okinawa, Japan set for July 21-23. Meanwhile, Antwerp's High Diamond Council said Tuesday it had reached an agreement with Angola on imports of "conflict diamonds." Peter Meeus, the High Diamond Council's Managing Director, said the agreement requires the creation of a central diamond export agency and certificates of origin. He said the Council was working on a similar agreement with Sierra Leone, and would approach Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July. "As the world's largest market, we thought it our responsibility, our duty, to find a solution," Meeus said. "We were the black sheep in this matter for some time. We do not necessarily want to be the white knight, but we want to help." He said immediate action would be taken against any individual or company found to be involved in the illicit diamond trade, including banning the offender from the diamond business and turning over evidence of illegal activity to the authorities. The U.N. World Food Programme began distributing food to some 10,000 persons at Mile 91 on Tuesday, according to a U.N. spokesman in New York. Oluyemi Adeniji, the Special Representative for the U.N. Secretary-General in Sierra Leone, was scheduled to arrive in New York on Tuesday for several days of talks with senior U.N. officials. He is expected to brief the Security Council on Friday and old a press conference afterwards, a U.N. spokesman said. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced Tuesday it was committing $2 million in emergency assistance to Sierra Leone. The money will be channeled through non-governmental organisations to provide health, agriculture and shelter programmes. CARE will received $700,000 to supply 5,000 war-affected families with household kits and plastic sheeting. Funds will also be used for shelter reconstruction and income generation projects. World Vision will received $750,000 for emergency health programmes for displaced persons returning to their homes. World Vision will also provide seeds and tools to some 10,000 farm families. Merlin will received $566,000 to provide emergency health care and nutritional support to children under the age of five, and to displaced persons. "This brings total USAID humanitarian assistance in Sierra Leone to $39.3 million for this fiscal year," USAID said in a statement. "This includes $24.4 million for food aid in Sierra Leone, plus additional food resources for Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea and Liberia; $11.1 million in emergency humanitarian assistance and $2.8 million for civil society building and support of the Lomé Peace Accord, and $1 million to aid those wounded and otherwise affected by war." 26 June: RUF rebels have destroyed a bridge about three kilometres west of Lunsar, Reuters reported on Monday, quoting military sources. The bridge had already been destroyed once by RUF but had been rebuilt by pro-government forces during their previous advance on the town. 21 Indian peacekeeping troops who were moved last week to the disused Red Cross compound at Pendembu remain prisoners of the RUF, UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu said on Monday. "The Red Cross is not there...They moved (the peacekeepers) in fact to better accommodation," Befecadu said. "They are still there; we sent rations yesterday." She added that UNAMSIL was in touch with the Indian troops and was regularly sending them supplies. Befecadu said she could not confirm whether UNAMSIL was in direct contact with the RUF, but that regional efforts were continuing to secure the hostages' release. "The Liberians, the ECOWAS countries, they are all doing their bit," she said. In New York, a U.N. spokesman said UNAMSIL was able to provide rations over the weekend to 222 Indian troops and 11 U.N. military observers surrounded by the RUF at Kailahun as well as to the 21 peacekeepers detained at Pendembu. UNAMSIL dispatched additional peacekeepers Monday to reinforce key positions, including at Mile 91 where an estimated 35,000 newly displaced persons have gathered, a U.N. spokesman said in New York. The spokesman said humanitarian agencies were looking into the possibility of building camps for the displaced near the town once U.N. peacekeepers have secured the area. Oluyemi Adeniji, the Special Representative for the U.N. Secretary-General in Sierra Leone, left via Conakry for New York on Monday, where he is expected to arrive on Tuesday, according to a U.N. spokesman. Adeniji will hold meetings this week with senior officials at the U.N. headquarters U.S. House Republicans blocked Democratic efforts Monday
to restore funding requested by the administration for U.N. peacekeeping
efforts in Sierra Leone and elsewhere in Africa by invoking a
parliamentary rule which bars spending more money without finding
offsetting savings elsewhere. The White House had requested an additional
$241 million for U.N. peacekeeping operations next year Hundreds of Kamajor militiamen have left Freetown at the request of President Kabbah, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) said Monday, quoting an unnamed government official. The official said their departure was part of a policy to free the capital of weapons. In May the government declared Freetown a weapons-free zone, with only UNAMSIL troops and selected members of the military allowed to carry arms. According to the AFP, the Kamajors had frequently been accused of intimidating civilians near their base at the former Brookfields Hotel — a charge they have denied. A Kamajor spokesman was quoted as saying the militia was "abiding by the president's directive" in leaving Freetown, adding: "We shall stand by him however as we are still convinced that the army is not loyal to him 100 percent." Soldiers of Britain's 1st Battalion of the
Royal Irish Regiment will be next in line 2,240 Sierra Leoneans have been selected in the U.S. DV-2001 diversity lottery, the State Department said on Monday. Under the programme, 50,000 permanent resident visas are made available each year to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Nearly twice that number — 90,000 — have been registered and notified under the assumption that some of the first 50,000 persons registered "will not pursue their cases to visa issuance." Those who have been notified must show proof of a secondary school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation which requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years. Once 50,000 visas have been issued, the programme for fiscal 2001 will end. The mail-in period for applications for the DV-2002 diversity lottery are scheduled from 2 October 2000 to 1 November 2000. An exhumation team arrived at Rogberi Junction on Sunday to examine the remains of U.N. peacekeepers who who killed there during fighting last month, a U.N. spokesman said in New York. He said forensic teams visited two sites and did a considerable amount of work, but will need to return. 24 June: Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr. Ibrahim I. Tejan-Jalloh has denied a BBC report that an outbreak of bloody diarrohea has been responsible for deaths in Pujehun District, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service reported on Friday. Meanwhile the Progress Online quoted health workers Thursday as saying a "bloody dysentery epidemic" had struck the towns of Pujehun and Bajaila, claiming the lives of 38 persons. The Progress Online quoted health officer Mustapha Sesay, who had just returned from Pujehun, as saying the epidemic was difficult to contain because of a lack of medical facilities and personnel. 23 June: 21 Indian peacekeepers being held by the RUF at Pendembu have been moved to the compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross compound in the town, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said on Friday. "However, there has been no other change in their condition," he said, adding that no further progress had been made in negotiating the release of 222 Indian peacekeepers and 11 military observers surrounded at Kailahun. UNAMSIL will strengthen its position near the town of Mile 91 in coming days to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian relief to some 35,000 displaced persons there, Almeida e Silva said. U.N. agencies and other aid agencies have registered some 92,000 newly-displaced persons in Sierra Leone since fighting resumed at the beginning of May, he added. The largest concentrations are found in Port Loko District, Tonkolili District, and the Western Area. Aerial bombing in the Kambia area has resulted in a doubling of the number of refugees arriving from that area at a refugee camp in Guinea, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva on Friday. He added that some of the recent arrivals had were suffering from shrapnel wounds. London-based Global Witness said Friday that radical changes were needed in the diamond industry in order to control the trade in "conflict diamonds" used to fund rebel wars in Africa. The group urged that a worldwide system be set up to verify and certify the country of origin of diamonds. An independent diamond organisation would monitor the system, which would be backed by industry self-regulation and government legislation. "It is clearly time for radical changes within the diamond sector, about how it operates and about the need for an ethical basis to its operations linked to greater transparency," Global Witness said in its report, "Conflict Diamonds." The group criticised the United Nations as being slow to take up the issue of illicit diamonds used to fund Sierra Leone's RUF rebels. "To date, the U.N. has still not tackled the issue of diamond revenue continuing to fund the RUF," Global Witness said. "The role of diamond revenue in Angola's continued conflict shows what a dangerous mistake it is to ignore the funding of rebel groups." The diamond industry, Global Witness said, had made it "possible for companies and importing countries to evade their responsibilities and claim ingeniously, and often incorrectly, that either they could not identify the origin of their goods, or that even if they could, and knew them to be from a conflict area, if they didn't buy them someone else would." Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to send 115 Russian troops and four Mi-24 helicopter gunships to Sierra Leone to participate in the U.N. peacekeeping force, the Itar-Tass news agency said on Friday. The measure was earlier approved by the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of Parliament. The contingent was approved for an initial period through August 7, but would be automatically renewed if the United Nations Security Council extends the term for peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone. The Russian contingent is charged with ensuring the security of UNAMSIL operations by air escort of land convoys, search-and-rescue flights, support for mobile air operations, patrol and observation flights. The Russian defence ministry was instructed rotate military personnel twice a year and to replace aircraft and military equipment as needed. General Leonid Ivashov, the head of the ministry's foreign relations department, was quoted as saying the troops were likely to leave for Sierra Leone between July 5 and July 15. Britain updated its travel advisory on Sierra Leone on Friday to say, "We advise against all travel to Sierra Leone." 22 June: Scores of people are said to have died in Pujehun District during the past two months from bloody diarrohea and typhoid, BBC Bo correspondent Prince Brima said on Thursday. "They include children and the aged, who die at the rate of up to 15 a week because of a lack of health facilities," Brima said, quoting the Regent Chief of Soro Gbema Chiefdom. "The medical charity Medécins sans Frontières has a small team operating from the town of Zimmi, but they are finding it difficult to provide adequate humanitarian services to people because the roads leading to border villages are deplorable." President Kabbah opened the National Conference on
the Lomé Peace Liberian President Charles Taylor lashed out at Britain
and the European Union Some 30 persons were arrested in Freetown Wednesday, UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befacadu said on Thursday. "Yesterday about 30 people were apprehended at a house by Sierra Leone and UNAMSIL authorities...uniforms, arms, drugs are reported to have been found. These persons have been handed over to the police," Befacadu said. She gave no details. "Overall the situation in the country is calm, Lungi is calm, Freetown is calm," she said. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has ordered Sierra Leone's July 8 World Cup qualifying match against Ghana to be moved to Accra because of the security situation in Freetown, the South African newspaper New Vision reported on Thursday. The return leg will take place in Freetown next May. An official from the United Nations Legal Office is in Sierra Leone to assess the situation in relation to a possible trial of RUF leader Foday Sankoh, according to Oluyemi Adeniji, the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative to Sierra Leone. Amnesty International said Thursday that a tribunal proposed by the Sierra Leone government last week to try RUF leaders would be insufficient to bring to justice all those responsible for human rights abuses in Sierra Leone. "A major concern is that this proposal limits prosecution to members of the Revolutionary United Front," Amnesty International said in a statement. "This ignores the fact that other parties to the conflict, including those now associated with the government, have also been responsible for gross human rights abuses." The statement noted that while the RUF had been responsible for widespread and systematic abuses during Sierra Leone's nine year civil conflict, members of the AFRC, the SLA and the CDF had been responsible for atrocities as well. "The vast majority of the several thousands of cases of deliberate and arbitrary killing, rape and other forms of sexual abuse, mutilation and abduction committed during the rebel incursion into Freetown in January 1999 were committed by AFRC forces, yet they will not be held to account," Amnesty International said. The statement stressed that if the issue of impunity were to be addressed, there could be no selectivity in administering justice. Amnesty International also insisted that any court established to prosecute those alleged to have committed atrocities must have the jurisdiction to try offenses under international law. The statement criticised the proposed tribunal, which would be composed of both national and international prosecutors and judges, as retaining considerable power for the Sierra Leone government. "The magnitude of human rights abuses committed during Sierra Leone's armed conflict require a court that is seen to be credible by all," Amnesty International said. "For this, it must fully independent and impartial and provide all other guarantees of fair trial, in accordance with international standards." 21 June: RUF rebels have recaptured the town of Lunsar, UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu said on Wednesday. Control of the town has passed back and forth between pro-government and rebel forces several times during the past month. Government troops seized Lunsar on May 29, but retreated two days later when they ran out of ammunition during an RUF counter-attack. They recaptured the town on June 7. Military sources indicated the latest rebel seizure of Lunsar occurred as a result of feuding between SLA and ex-SLA troops, leading the erstwhile allies to abandon the town at the weekend. An SLA officer told the Associated Press that a dispute last week over a stolen car led to fighting between the two factions. Other accounts have blamed the fighting on a dispute over field promotions. Army spokesman Major John Milton told the Agence France-Presse he had reports Tuesday that "some of our men were there" but that fighting among pro-government soldiers might have led most of them to leave Lunsar for Rogberi Junction and Masiaka. "If our troops have abandoned the ground, the RUF may have moved in," Milton said. Befecadu said U.N. peacekeepers were still holding Rogberi Junction. ECOWAS foreign ministers from Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Togo met behind closed doors Wednesday with the United Nations Security Council on how to resolve the crisis in Sierra Leone. The Council is currently circulating two British-sponsored draft resolutions to increase the strength of UNAMSIL to 16,500 troops, and to toughen sanctions on the RUF's illicit diamond trade. A U.S.-sponsored draft resolution would establish a framework to prosecute leaders of the RUF. ECOWAS Executive-Secretary Lansana Kouyate told reporters the ECOWAS delegation had again offered 3,500 additional West African troops for UNAMSIL, providing "that we get sufficient logistical and financial support." He said the ministers had voiced approval for bringing to justice those responsible for the collapse of the peace process. "We are not opposed at all to any process which will bring to court those who have been responsible for violations of the Lome Peace Accord," Kouyate said. "We are not talking about immunity after the seventh of July (the date the accord was signed)." In a statement read out after the meeting, Security Council President Jean-David Levitte of France said the ECOWAS delegation and the Council condemned the continued RUF detention of Indian UNAMSIL troops and the denial of freedom of movement of a large number of U.N. personnel in eastern Sierra Leone. He said both sides had agreed that the Lome Peace Accord had been flouted by the violation of the ceasefire, the attacks on the U.N., and the taking of U.N. hostages. "With the help of appropriate inquiries, those identified as responsible should be brought to justice," Levitte said. Members of both organisations expressed concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sierra Leone, and called on all parties to to ensure safe and unhindered access by aid workers to those in need, in particular refuges and displaced persons, women and children. They also called upon all states and agencies to provide urgent and substantial humanitarian assistance to the people of Sierra Leone, Levitte said. Nigerian Foreign Minister Sule Lamido expressed doubt that RUF leader Foday Sankoh could be kept safe and secure in Sierra Leone, and offered Nigeria as a venue for the court if necessary, diplomats were quoted as saying. British U.N. Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock said after the meeting "the current activities of Liberia were potentially or perhaps actually a major threat in what we were trying to do" to resolve the crisis in Sierra Leone. "I also had a word with the Liberian foreign minister (Monie Captan) to see if we can try and work together in honest acceptance that things have been going wrong in this respect and Liberia can play an honourable role" in Sierra Leone's security and economic development. "The most important aspect of this is the ability of the RUF to operate militarily, and Liberia has a relationship with the RUF," Greenstock said. Bangladesh would be willing to provide an additional battalion of 700 or 800 peacekeeping troops for the UNAMSIL force in Sierra Leone should it become necessary, according to country's U.N. ambassador. Bangladesh is currently a member of the United Nations Security Council. U.S. State Department Spokesman Philip Reeker said Wednesday that the United States was was "actively considering" options for a U.N. Security Council resolution along the lines of a proposal submitted by President Kabbah in a letter to the Council. "As I understand it, the idea that President Kabbah put forward is to establish a special court that would blend international and Sierra Leonean law and would allow the international community, the region, the government of Sierra Leone, all to work together to bring the principle perpetrators of atrocities in Sierra Leone to justice," Reeker said. He added that it would be a "unique court" with some similarities to the court being set up to deal with crimes committed by Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia. Another option — setting up an international tribunal like those for Rwanda and Yugoslavia — could be a very lengthy undertaking, he said. "We're looking to see how we can support the effort. The United States is very actively considering options for possible Security Council action. We're leading efforts to develop a U.N. Security Council resolution...and examining all the possible options," Reeker told reporters. Some 4,000 new Sierra Leonean refugees have crossed into Guinea since the collapse of the peace process in Sierra Leone on May 2, Radio France International reported on Wednesday. "They are more than 4,000 Sierra Leoneans including combatants of the government forces who crossed the border with Guinea in the past weeks to increase the number of refugees in Guinea," said RFI correspondent Moctar Bah. "This naturally makes it very difficult to deal with the refugees specially for the Forecariah authorities, who want to control their movement." Forecariah prefect Mamadouba Bangoura expressed concern about the presence of armed combatants on Guinean soil. "For people who have the habit of using firearms, when given a chance to have them, they will undoubtedly use them," he said. "That is why we said that they should agree to abide by the rules of being a refugee. Or else, I would be forced to repel them and I am here to monitor the situation." According to Bah, some 70,000 of the 500,000 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees currently living in Guinea reside in the Forecariah prefecture. Canadian assistance to Sierra Leone in the coming year
will focus on the needs Sierra Leone's High Commissioner to Kenya, Alhaji Fode M. Dabor, has presented his credentials to President Daniel Arap Moi in Freetown, the Sierra Leone News Agency reported on Wednesday. Dabor formerly held the post of United Nations charge d'affaires in New York. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has announced the re-opening of Sierra Leone's High Commission in Accra. The High Commission was closed in 1983 for financial reasons. Sierra Leone's High Commissioner designate, Alie Bangura, is already in Accra, SLENA said. The OAU has donated $150,000 to Sierra Leone to benefit internally displaced persons and for miscellaneous spending, Sierra Leone's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement released on Wednesday. The statement said the OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim's newly-designated Special Envoy to Sierra Leone, Jeremiah Mambolo, would be arriving in Sierra Leone shortly, according to the Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA). Salim himself is also expected to visit Sierra Leone. The journalists' advocacy group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF - Reporters without Borders) has protested an assault by a UNAMSIL officer against Arthur Caulker, a journalist with the bi-weekly Freetown newspaper Salone Times. RSF called on the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative to Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, to ensure that reporters could work freely and safely in Sierra Leone. According to RSF, Caulker was assaulted on June 14 by Major Umar, a Nigerian military officer serving with UNAMSIL, who hit the reporter with a boot. The attack allegedly followed an article published on May 9 which condemned a UNAMSIL commander for firing a shot during a demonstration outside the home of RUF leader Foday Sankoh. "According to the article, the warning shot 'gave the green light to the sporadic gunshots fired by the RUF combatants' into the crowd, which resulted in the death of more than 20 people," the RSF statement said. 20 June: Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. Permanent
Representative to the United With ratification by Sierra Leone, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has received 13 of the 60 ratifications necessary to bring the Court into existence. The ICC would initially have within its jurisdiction crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity — the latter category to include murder, enslavement, extermination, persecution, disappearance and sexual crimes. An ICC Preparatory Commission has set a deadline of June 30 to complete work on two aspects of the Court's State essential to its eventual functioning: Rules of Procedures and Evidence, and Elements of Crimes. The Court is not expected to be operational in time to hear cases relating to abuses in the Sierra Leone conflict. So far 97 countries have signed the treaty establishing the Court. The treaty remains open for signature until December 31. To this point only Sierra Leone, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, San Marino, Italy, Fiji, Ghana, Norway, Belize, Iceland, Tajikistan, Venezuela and France have ratified the treaty. Nigerian UNAMSIL troops seized an illegal shipment of weapons and ammunition in Freetown on Monday and arrested eight persons believed to be SLA soldiers, UNAMSIL spokesman David Wimhurst said on Tuesday. "Three machine guns, two AK-47s, six rifles and 75 rounds of ammunition were found hidden in a Toyota van under sacks of rice in the centre of Freetown," Wimhurst told the BBC. "It was a random check conducted by Nigerian peacekeepers and as a result of that we discovered the weapons, confiscated them and the ammunition, and eight men were arrested who are now in custody." Wimhurst noted that President Kabbah had declared Freetown a weapons-free zone, and that government forces were not allowed to return to the capital carrying arms openly. "They must check them in before they arrive in the city and in this cases of course that procedure was not followed," he said. Wimhurst said the U.N. was concerned that pro-government forces were ignoring the order and trying to bring arms into the Freetown. "We have established very strong checkpoints and are preventing arms from coming in, but it’s also very much part of the government’s responsibility and the armed forces’ responsibility to make sure that their men obey these instructions and check their weapons in before they enter the city," he said. "We’ve had meetings with the government representatives and we agreed that this is what should happen. So therefore it’s a matter of discipline and command on the government troops’ side." United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday
he might seek RUF rebels surrounding 224 Indian peacekeeping troops in Kailahun have allowed two of the soldiers to be evacuated on medical grounds, new UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befacadu said on Tuesday. The two, a corporal and a lance corporal, were first driven to the UNAMSIL base at Daru where they were to be airlifted to Freetown. ECOWAS delegates are on their way from Sierra Leone to New York, where they will meet in closed-door session Wednesday with the United Nations Security Council on the crisis in Sierra Leone, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said on Tuesday. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) expressed "grave concern" Tuesday that fighting in northern and eastern Sierra Leone was resulting in the displacement of large numbers of civilians and disrupting the delivery of food and and relief supplies. In a statement issued in Abidjan, the WFP said it had been forced to delay food distribution last week to over 16,000 displaced persons at Lungi and had called back a food convoy to more than 14,000 displaced at Port Loko. The WFP, which fed 200,000 war-affected Sierra Leoneans in May alone, said it was also concerned about the plight of thousands of persons in areas of the country not under government control. "Their situation could rapidly deteriorate due to the lack of food hardly available in isolated rural regions from May to September during the seasonal heavy rains, a period known in Sierra Leone as 'the hunger season,'" the WFP statement said. Sierra Leone, Myanmar, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria spend least in providing their citizens with value for money spent on health care, the U.N. World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a report to be published on Wednesday. The United States spends more per person than any other country yet ranked only 37th in the quality of health care. France, the WHO analysis concluded, provides the world's best health care. 27 British military personnel deployed in Sierra Leone during the recent crisis there have been confirmed as suffering from malaria, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told Parliament Monday in a written statement. Three more cases have been referred to hospital for investigation, according to the latest figures released by Britain's Ministry of Defence. India has sought help from two West African leaders to try to free 21 Indian peacekeepers being held hostage by the RUF in Pendembu, Foreign Ministry spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal said in Delhi. He told reporters that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had appealed to Liberian President Charles Taylor through the Indian ambassador in Ghana. "The prime minister expressed his deep concern in a letter about the detention of 21 soldiers and the blockade of the other group in Kailahun," he said. Jassal said Indian Vice President Kishan Kant had asked Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to intervene during a G-15 summit meeting in Cairo. "Obasanjo told the vice president about his contacts with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in this matter," the spokesman said. In a separate communiqué, the Indian foreign ministry said a high-level team of defence and foreign ministry officials had found the Indian troops "in high spirits" during a visit to Sierra Leone from June 8-11. "The delegation confirmed that the hostages are in good health and that food was being supplied to them on a daily basis," the statement said. 19 June: Five persons, including three Kamajor militiamen, have been arrested in connection with Saturday night's shooting spree in Freetown in which a civilian was killed and four persons wounded. A government statement broadcast on state radio late Sunday said the five had not yet been charged and that police were still investigating the incident. The reason for the shooting and who was involved are still not clear. The government statement said "stringent measures" would be taken against anyone who brought illegal arms into Freetown. Only U.N. peacekeepers, police and some military personnel are allowed to carry firearms in the capital. A nine-member ECOWAS delegation charged with getting the
peace process in The UNAMSIL force increased to 12,394 Monday with the arrival of 290 Bangladeshi peacekeepers and 14 Indian aviation personnel, UNAMSIL spokesman David Wimhurst told reporters. "Our deployment has continued to grow through the last six weeks — 12,400 basically on the ground — the (U.N. Security) Council is currently considering a resolution that could put that up to 16,500," he said. U.N. humanitarian sources expressed concern Monday over the humanitarian situation at Mile 91, where an estimated 30,000 persons fleeing from Makeni, Magburaka and Lunsar have been registered by U.N. agencies, non-governmental organisations and the International Committee of the Red Cross as internally displaced. According to the U.N. Office for The Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an additional 17,000 persons were registered in the surrounding area with 10,000 more expected to arrive soon. An OCHA official said the most immediate need was for shelter because there was no camp for internally displaced persons at Mile 91. "People have been occupying public buildings where conditions are poor, especially during the rains," the official said. Humanitarian agencies are making efforts to accommodate newly-displaced residents. They are served by two health clinics operated by Caritas and MSF Netherlands, the official said. An MSF mobile clinic is expected to be operational this week. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named Jean-Marie Guehenno as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said on Monday. Guehenno, a former diplomat, was France's representative to the Western European Union from 1993 to 1995. He is currently a member of the U.N. Advisory Board for Disarmament Affairs. Guehenno will succeed Bernard Miyet on October 1. The United Nations currently has over 35,000 military personnel and police serving in 14 peacekeeping operations around the world. Russia will send a squadron of four helicopter gunships and 106 soldiers to join the UNAMSIL force in Sierra Leone on June 25, according to Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's Main Directorate for International Military Cooperation. "Reconnaissance groups are now working in Sierra Leone, and negotiations on technical issues and terms of troops' deployment are underway," Ivashov said on Monday. Three journalists have won this year's prestigious One World Media Awards for their reporting on the conflict in Sierra Leone. BBC West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle received the Radio News Award for a BBC "From Our Own Correspondent" report he filed in July 1999 comparing the situation in Sierra Leone to that of Kosovo. The One World Broadcasting Trust jury called Doyle's report, written after a visit to Sierra Leone by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and entitled Sierra Leone/Mrs Robinson, "a passionate insight into Sierra Leone." Sierra Leonean filmmaker Sorius Samura won both the best TV Documentary Award and the ICRC Dignity in Conflict Award for his documentary Cry Freetown, also known under the title "Out of Africa," which portrayed atrocities by both sides during the January 1999 RUF invasion of Freetown. The jury said the film “was not easy to watch but it contained truths about war, about so-called peace-keeping, about child soldiers and maybe about human nature, which we ought to see if we wish to understand.” The International New Media Award went to Eric Beauchemin of Radio Netherlands for his website The Scars of Brutality, which the jury said combined "passion, bravery, good writing and high production value. The pictures and authentic voices were stunning.” Doyle, in his 1999 report, described a conflict which had produced more displaced persons and refugees than any other war in Africa, and where rebels had "used terror as a deliberate tactic," mutilating civilians as a warning to others not to support the government. Doyle also noted that while Kosovo had attracted international attention, the plight of Sierra Leoneans had all but been ignored by the international community. On Robinson's arrival in Sierra Leone, there were only two foreign journalists present to ask her questions. "If it is objectively true, as no less a person than the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner says, that the situation in Sierra Leone is worse than that in Kosovo, how come journalists who report these things are sometimes accused of exaggerating?," Doyle asked. "I don’t mind being accused of exaggerating. Back in 1994, before the extent of the genocide in Rwanda was widely accepted, lots of people said we journalists were overdramatising the situation. We weren’t. And now, perhaps its not an exaggeration to suggest, just tentatively, that the international reaction to Sierra Leone might have been very different if all of those people with their limbs chopped off had been white." Doyle received the award Thursday at a ceremony in London. Deputy Defence Minister Sam Hinga Norman has rejected
accusations by 18 June: Shooting broke out late Saturday in Brookfields, in the western part of the capital, leaving one civilian dead in the crossfire and four persons injured, including two Kamajor militiamen. Police have detained to members of the CDF in connection with the incident. BBC correspondent Sylvester Rogers said Sunday the shooting began in an area where over 100 CDF members were deployed. "According to an independent source, a vehicle of armed men had gone to the CDF deployment area and, on reversing the vehicle, the armed men allegedly launched an RPG bomb which the CDF replied in like manner," Rogers told the BBC Focus on Africa programme. "The CDF reportedly chased the armed vehicle to the national radio station, the maximum Pademba Road Prison and spread unto town centre." The Voice of America, however, quoted U.N. officials as saying the shooting started when security forces fired on a group of men trying to steal cars in the city centre. British military sources told the Agence France-Presse they believed the incident was started by the accidental discharge of a weapon, which drew a response from guards at Pademba Road Prison. UNAMSIL spokesman David Wimhurst speculated Sunday morning that the incident may have been the result of a factional rivalry. "All I know is the events took place and we will get a report from our people. It could be due to rivalry between various factions," he said. He added that UNAMSIL troops had moved in quickly to restore calm. "I was actually pleased to see following this incident — I was in Freetown myself — that all of the checkpoints throughout the city were manned and very active," he said. "People had heard the gunshots and did not know what was its cause. The government was stopping cars and searching them. So it was a very active response to this incident and the security situation remains the way it has been." Wimhurst was quoted as saying the firing began at about 9:30 p.m. and lasted for about 30 minutes, while the BBC said the gunfire went on for five hours. Reuters reported U.N. peacekeepers arrived in armoured personnel carriers after about 30 minutes and restored order. A diplomatic source in Freetown, however, told the Sierra Leone Web that UNAMSIL troops had participated in the firing. Radio FM 98.1 (state radio) said the firing "may have been sparked off by some indisciplined use of firearms." A government statement appealed for calm and insisted the situation was under control. "The government wishes to assure the public that the incident was no threat to the security of the country," the statement said, adding that an investigation was underway. RUF rebels attacked the town of Masiaka late Saturday, deep in what was considered to be government-held territory, U.N. sources told the Agence France-Presse reported on Sunday. The town is occupied by Jordanian peacekeeping troops. There were no UNAMSIL casualties in the attack. Two soldiers were killed and three wounded in fighting at Lunsar Saturday between soldiers of the new Sierra Leone Army and the ex-SLA "West Side Boys" loyal to Johnny Paul Koroma, military sources told Reuters. A diplomatic source told the Sierra Leone Web on Sunday that the fighting appeared to relate to field promotions given to the new SLA while some ex-SLA soldiers "were mysteriously dropped from the list." He added that the SLA at Port Loko "seem to have disbanded" Friday and Saturday. A British aid worker who was abducted by the RUF last month has been released after having been held by the rebels for six weeks. Alan Smith, a 55-year old engineer, arrived in Sierra Leone on May 3. He and six local people in his car disappeared four days later after he visited the town of Songo on behalf of an educational charity. Smith was freed in Makeni and airlifted to safety by British troops. "Mr. Smith is fit and well and told the High Commissioner he had not been maltreated," a British foreign office spokeswoman said. "He is still in Freetown and plans to come back to the UK soon but we are not sure exactly when that will be." The Liberian government has resupplied and reinforced RUF
rebels in eastern Sierra Leone, who are preparing to Following a war of words this week by Liberia over Sierra Leonean and British accusations of Liberian backing for Sierra Leone's RUF rebels and of Liberian involvement in the illegal trade in Sierra Leonean diamonds, the Liberian government suddenly announced it would relocate more than 10,000 Sierra Leonean refugees, accusing them of involvement in illicit diamond mining. The refugees are to be moved from Sinje Camp in Grand Camp Mount County to the town of Clay in Bomi County, 30 km. from Monrovia. According to BBC Monrovia correspondent Jonathan Paye-Layleh, the decision was announced by Liberian Foreign Minister Monie Captan at a hastily-arranged press conference over the weekend. Sierra Leone's Ambassador to Liberia, Dr. Kemoh Salia-Bao, was quoted as saying his embassy was unaware of involvement in illicit diamond mining by Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia, and expressed surprise he had not been informed of the Liberian government's plan to move the refugees. "I would appreciate if the government of Liberia could consult us properly on the matter," he said. The Liberian foreign ministry said it has sent a diplomat note to all European Union countries urging them to reject a call by Britain to block aid to Liberia, the BBC reported on Sunday. Last week EU foreign ministers recommended the freeze of $48 million in redevelopment aid to Liberia, citing evidence presented by Britain of Liberian backing for the RUF and involvement in the illicit trade in Sierra Leonean diamonds. 17 June: Nigeria's Super Eagles defeated the Leone Stars 2-0 in their second round World Cup qualifying match in Lagos on Saturday. Scoring for Nigeria were Austin "Jay-Jay" Okocha in the 16th minute and Bendict Akwuegbu in the 37th. The game was played before a crowd of 20,000. Sierra Leone will next play Ghana on July 8 in Freetown. Other weekend results: Algeria 1, Senegal 1; Namibia 0, Morocco 0. Madagascar 3, Democratic Republic of Congo 0; Malawi 1, Burkina Faso 1; Angola 2, Zambia 1; Libya 0, Cameroon 3; Sudan 2, Liberia 0; Ivory Coast 2, Tunisia 2; Guinea 3, Zimbabwe 0. Soldiers of the Sierra Leone Army's Third Battalion and ex-SLA soldiers — the "West Side Boys" — clashed at Lunsar on Wednesday, according to BBC correspondent Sylvester Rogers, citing defence headquarters sources and Deputy Defence Minister Sam Hinga Norman. "The damage has been done, and we are now busy making repairs," Norman was quoted as saying. No official reason was given for the fighting. "An independent source told me today that the fighting erupted among the soldiers when a self-styled West Side brigadier and his men refused to take command from one Lieutenant Bakarr," Rogers said. "He insisted with their jungle ranks and war experience they cannot take commands from a lieutenant." Tension between the two groups is not new. Last week a source in Freetown told the Sierra Leone Web that the better-equipped new SLA soldiers at the front were being disarmed by the West Side Boys. U.N. and diplomatic sources in Freetown acknowledged difficulties with the ex-SLA soldiers, but were unable to say how widespread the problem was. Canada will supply helmets to 1,000 Sierra Leone Army recruits being trained by Britain, British army spokesman Captain Fergus Smith said on Saturday. "Canada, as part of its commitment to the International Military Advisory and Training Team (IMATT) has agreed to supply all trainees with the Canadian issue helmet," Smith said. He added that the recruits had been issued additional equipment by the Sierra Leone Army. "The soldiers undergoing training have now been issued uniforms and footwear...I see this as a significant step forward, both for their logistic supply train and for the soldiers under training who are now beginning to realise that they are the main effort they are the focus for the future," he said. Amnesty International called on the Sierra Leone government Saturday to clarify charges against 120 persons detained under the country's emergency regulations, and permit them access to lawyers and medical attention. "Human rights abuses in Sierra Leone will not end until there is an end to impunity," Amnesty International said in a statement. "However, the government must bring all perpetrators of human rights abuses to justice in line with international fair trial standards." Among those the government said Tuesday were detained at Pademba Road Prison were three RUFP ministers, Trade and Industry Minister Mike Lamin, Energy and Works Minister Pallo Bangura and Lands and Environment Minister Peter Vandy, RUFP spokesman Eldred Collins and RUFP Secretary-General Solomon Y. B. Rogers. Also being held under the emergency regulations were two RUF commanders: Colonel Lawrence Sahr Wormandia, who commanded RUF contingents in Kono, and Colonel Momoh Rogers, who commanded the RUF in Kailahun District. 16 June: President Kabbah told Parliament Friday
that the "complex security Liberian Foreign Minister Monie Captan said Friday that Liberia would continue to negotiate for the release of 21 Indian peacekeepers held hostage by the RUF, but said the task was being complicated by renewed fighting between government forces and the RUF. "You cannot secure the release of hostages in a situation of hostilities," he said. "There is a military campaign going on, supported by the British government and supported by the Sierra Leone government with the objective of defeating the RUF. If that is the approach, that policy endangers the life of U.N. personnel." On Thursday Deputy Information Minister Milton Teahjay threatened Liberia would withdraw from the peace process amid accusations this week by Sierra Leone and Britain of Liberian backing for the RUF. "We are giving ten days to the U.S.A. and ECOWAS to make known that (exiled RUF field commander) Sam Bockarie is in Liberia with their consent," Teahjay told a radio talk show. "If they do not do that, we will send him back and remove our hands from helping to bring peace to Sierra Leone." Both Teahjay and Captain denounced the European Union's decision to block disbursement of $48 million in aid to Liberia, citing evidence of Liberian involvement in the illicit trade of Sierra Leonean diamonds and of illegal arms sales to the RUF. "It is a clear campaign to undermine this government," Captan said of the EU move. "It is time that we realised that Liberia is being victimised by certain powers that would like to see this government totally undermined." President Kabbah has asked for U.N. assistance in setting
up a war crimes tribunal to try RUF leader Foday Sankoh and his followers,
the Washington Post reported on Friday. According to a U.N. spokeswoman,
Kabbah appealed to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a letter this week
for "guidance and assistance" in establishing the tribunal. She
said U.N. experts were studying the letter, which she declined to make
public. Sierra Leone's Sierra Leone's national soccer team failed to show up in Lagos Wednesday for Saturday's second round World Cup qualifying match against Nigeria's Super Eagles after players demanded a $1,000 match fee instead of the $300 they had been promised, Reuters reported on Friday. In Nigeria, the Super Eagles are also facing problems as five of invited the Nigerian players — Pius Ikedia, Celestine Babayaro, Victor Agali, Tijani Babangida and Taribo West — failed to report to the training camp. A nationwide strike over petrol prices stranded a number of players and restricted training at the National Stadium in Surelere, with preparations for Saturday's game only getting underway in earnest on Thursday. Thursday's training had to be cut short, however, when Nigerian fans watching the practice session took advantage of lax security to invade the pitch. Meanwhile, the Leone Stars' new Yugoslav coach, Dusan Draskovic, is holding out hope that Sierra Leone could defeat the heavily-favoured Super Eagles "All the matches in our group will be very, very hard. The Nigerians are the best but if I didn't think this team could beat them I would not have come here," Draskovic said. Because the Leone Stars rely on their internationals, who arrive just before a match and leave soon afterwards, the Sierra Leoneans rarely have a chance to train as a team. Mohammed Kallon and Kewulie Conteh, who are based in Italy, and Junior Tombo, who plays in the United Arab Emirates, are expected to take the field against Nigeria. Other team members play in Croatia, Sweden and China. "The biggest problem we have is having one set of players one day and then another the next," Draskovic said. "As well as the foreign-based players, the young ones have everything you need, the right psychology, technical, tactical and physical ability. I am sure they will be able to succeed. We can do very well." The Sierra Leone Council of Churches has launched a programme to compensate children for handing in their toy guns, reasoning that children who play with toy weapons may eventually want the real thing. Journalist Sulaiman Momodu told the BBC on Friday that over 100 children had already turned in their toy weapons "ranging from toy machine guns to grenade launchers to tanks." The Council of Churches hopes thousands of children will eventually participate in the programme, which exchanges the toys guns for books and non-violent toys. "Yesterday 25 children handed in their toy guns and were given compensation in the form of books and non-violent toys by the Deputy Minister of Trade, Theresa Koroma," Momodu said. "The Council of Churches is working with schools and other organizations to spread the exercise across the whole country, and is also pressing for restrictions on imports of toy weapons and the showing of violent films." RUF rebels attacked pro-government forces at Lunsar on Thursday, killing one soldier and a CDF militiaman, BBC correspondent Sylvester Rogers said on Friday. He said the rebels launched their attack from the direction of Foredugu, east of Lunsar. "Some 15 rebels were said to have been killed in that attack but that is yet to be independently confirmed. The attack was repulsed by pro-government forces," Rogers said. Amnesty
International has condemned continuing attacks by the RUF on The Italian Foreign Ministry's development aid office on Friday designated a $500,000 contribution to the World Bank trust fund which is financing the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme in Sierra Leone. 15 June: British Deputy Prime Minister John
Prescott pledged Thursday President Kabbah said Thursday that the Sierra Leone
government would have 226 troops from the 2nd Battalion of Britain's Royal Anglian Regiment, 45 of them military trainers, launched "Operation Basilica" Thursday, an effort to provide basic military training to 1,000 recruits who will form the core of a new Sierra Leone Army. The training is expected to take about six weeks. In the longer term, responsibility for training the Sierra Leone Army will be taken over by a British-led International Military Advisory and Training Team (IMATT). "We are bridging a gap between the force that has been here for quite a different reason and the longer-term training commitment," said Lieutenant-Colonel Alasdair Wild, commander of the British army training team. RUF rebels clashed with Nigerian peacekeeping troops at Port Loko on Thursday, UNAMSIL spokesman David Wimhurst told the BBC. "This morning near Port Loko there was an attempt by the RUF to attack Nigerians there," Wimhurst told the BBC. "The Nigerians peacekeepers responded forcibly and the RUF withdrew into the bush." In New York, a U.N. spokesman said the RUF attack occurred at about 10:00 a.m. There was an exchange of fire for about 45 minutes before the RUF retreated into the bush, the spokesman said. Wimhurst noted that the U.N. peacekeeping force was stronger now than when the peace process broke down in the beginning of May. "In the last six weeks since this crisis began we have increased our troop strength on the ground from 8,000 to 12,000, and more troops are still coming in," he said. "We’ve increased our armaments including helicopter gunships and artillery, so we’re in a much stronger position than we were six weeks ago." He stressed that UNAMSIL's mandate allowed U.N. peacekeepers to respond to "hostile intent" by the use of force. "Whether that hostile intent is expressed by somebody actually shooting or threatening to do so, we can still respond with arms, and we have done so." Wimhurst said the U.N. was ensuring security in the areas around Freetown and in the interior where U.N. troops were deployed. "We will continue to reinforce our positions and take all measures necessary to ensure security in those reasons stays stable and, within the limits of our deployment and abilities, we’ll protect the civilian population in all these areas," he said. He pointed out that UNAMSIL's role was not to go to war with the RUF as a combat army. "Don’t forget there is a political process that has to be resurrected underlying this military situation and that’s something else of course that we’re working on actively," he said. A six-member ECOWAS delegation arrived in Sierra Leone late Wednesday, where they will attempt to bring about a cease-fire between government and rebel forces and to put the peace process back on track. "We hope to see the rebels, the government, the United Nations and the people of Sierra Leone, to stop the fighting, secure the release of all the United Nations personnel and their weapons, and then to see a way forward for the Lomé Peace Accord," said Nigerian Major-General Gabriel Kpamber, a member of the delegation and the last commander of the ECOMOG force in Sierra Leone. "We hope to be here for about a week or perhaps two weeks. Our main aim is to invigorate the Lomé Peace Accord," he said. According to the Associated Press, the ECOWAS team began negotiations in Freetown for a new cease-fire. The Leone Stars, Sierra Leone's national soccer team,
failed to arrive in Nigeria UNAMSIL force commander General Vijay Kumar Jetley
reportedly established Kenya has petitioned the United Nations over the conduct of UNAMSIL force commander Major-General Vijay Kumar Jetley which, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Bonaya Godana alleged on Thursday, led to the capture of Kenyan and Zambian troops by RUF rebels. "We have raised the issue with the UN headquarters and they have promised to respond. I have learnt that Zambia has also complained on the issue," Godana told Parliament. According to Kenya's East African Standard newspaper, Kenyan lawmakers also want to bill the U.N. for Kenyan military equipment lost to the rebels. 14 June: The Sierra Leone government said Tuesday it was holding 120 political detainees, including three RUFP ministers who joined the government under a power-sharing arrangement set up by last year's Lomé Peace Accord. According to the Government Gazette, the government has detained two RUF colonels, 11 ex-SLA soldiers and 105 civilians, and one Liberian former NPFL fighter under public emergency regulations designed to maintain peace and order. Among the civilian detainees listed were Trade and Industry Minister Mike Lamin, Energy and Works Minister Pallo Bangura and Lands and Environment Minister Peter Vandy. Also detained was RUFP spokesman Eldred Collins. The RUF commanders were identified as Momoh Rogers and Colonel Lawrence Sahr Wormandia. Reuters quoted police sources as saying all of those detained, including RUF leader Foday Sankoh, were being held at Pademba Road Prison under heavy military and paramilitary guard. RUF rebels attacked and burned the town of Magbele on Wednesday, UNAMSIL spokesman David Wimhurst told reporters. The village is several miles north of a U.N. outpost at the Rokel Bridge, where Jordanian peacekeepers clashed Monday with RUF fighters who were attempting to cross the river by canoe. Wimhurst said it was unclear whether there were any casualties in the attack on the village. RUF rebels attacked pro-government forces at Lunsar on Tuesday night, U.N. military spokesman Lieutenant Commander Patrick Coker told reporters in Freetown on Wednesday. "The RUF attacked Lunsar yesterday night, they were repelled by the government forces. We don't have details of casualties on either side," Coker said. "There was an attack on Lunsar on Tuesday night and our forces repelled it. We are holding Lunsar and consolidating there," said Army spokesman Major John Milton. 45,000 newly displaced persons fleeing Makeni and Magburaka have reached Mile 91, a U.N. spokesman said in New York on Wednesday. He said humanitarian convoys were headed to the area with emergency assistance. The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved a
spending bill Wednesday which cut out funding for U.N. peacekeeping
efforts in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier, the
House Appropriations Committee, on a 26-27 near party-line vote, rejected
a move to add the $241 million President Clinton wanted for U.N.
peacekeeping. Four Republicans A new World Bank report has suggested that civil conflicts are more often caused by rebel groups competing with governments for resources than for reasons of political, ethnic or religious differences. The report, Economic Causes of Civil Conflict and their Implications for Policy, examined 47 civil wars taking place from 1960 to 1999, showed that countries which earn about a quarter of their GDP from the export of raw materials face a far higher likelihood of civil war than countries with more diversified economies. The report says rebel groups in vulnerable countries loot primary commodities in order to remain financially viable. This, in turn, allows them to pay large numbers of young, poorly-educated combatants and to keep their rebellion alive both domestically and internationally. Paul Collier, the report's author and Director for the World Bank's Economic Department, said the looting of such resources explains many current and former civil in conflicts. In Sierra Leone, he said, the capture of diamond mining areas by the RUF and the sale of diamonds abroad is one of the main reasons for the renewed fighting in the country. A woman identifying herself as the RUF's new spokesperson
called the BBC The British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, the first
warship to arrive off the coast RUF leader Foday Sankoh "and some of his squad"
will face trial soon, Diamond mining giant De Beers called on Wednesday for a coordinated international response to stop the trade in "conflict diamonds" which are fueling wars in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In a letter to the industry leaders ahead of next month's World Diamond Cong |
resolution to impose a global ban on diamond exports
from Sierra Leone, according to Council President Jean-David Levitte of
France. Levitte said the draft resolution had been sent to the governments
of the 15-nation Council for possible approval before the weekend. The
resolution, which initially would run for 18 months, refers to reports
that "illicit Sierra Leonean diamonds "travel
through neighbouring countries, including Liberia," and calls on U.N. member
countries to "take the necessary measures to prohibit the direct or
indirect import of all rough diamonds from Sierra Leone to their
territory." The proposal would exempt from the ban diamonds if their
origin were certified by the Sierra Leone government, and it called on the
diamond industry to co-operate with the embargo. The resolution
calls for hearings within one year to examine "the role of diamonds
in the Sierra Leone conflict." It also calls on U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint a panel of experts for an initial period
of four months to report to a Council sanctions committee on any
violations.
sponsored by the
United States which would establish a
special court under Chapter VII of the United Nations charter which would
have jurisdiction over "senior Sierra Leonean nationals who bear the
greatest responsibility for the most systematic and egregious criminal
violations of Sierra Leone law, international law and international human
rights law." Under the draft resolution, the court would have
jurisdiction under relevant provisions of Sierra Leonean law as well as
under relevant provisions of international humanitarian and human rights
law for criminal offenses committed in Sierra Leone. The resolution also
requests the U.N. Secretary-General send a team of experts to Sierra Leone
within 30 days to consult with the government and to make recommendations
on the establishment of the court. Meanwhile, the Council met in closed
session Thursday to discuss the text of two British draft resolutions on
Sierra Leone. One would raise the authorised strength of UNAMSIL to 16,500
troops while the other would toughen sanctions on the RUF's illicit
diamond trade. A diplomatic source told the Sierra Leone Web late
Thursday that "consultations on one of the U.K. drafts, the one on
diamonds, are almost ended," adding: "The projection is that the
Council will take a decision on the diamonds first, followed by the
special court." The third resolution, to raise the ceiling on UNAMSIL
troops, will be taken up after consideration by the U.S. government, which
pays a quarter of U.N. peacekeeping costs, the source said. The Council will also
be briefed on Friday by the Special Representative of the U.N.
Secretary-General to Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji.
Mile
91 on Wednesday to review the situation there, a U.N. spokesman said.
Jetley was responding to reports of fighting in the area between
pro-government forces and the RUF, as well as concerns by humanitarian
organisations about the condition of some 40,000 newly displaced persons
who have gathered in the area. Jetley addressed a gathering of displaced
persons a Mile 91, urging them to remain calm and to organise themselves
into manageable communities. "There was some indication that some of
the displaced persons who had fled upon receiving rumors of fighting in
recent days were returning back to the area, which is reported to be
calm," the spokesman said. UNAMSIL is planning to reinforce the two
companies of Guinean peacekeeping troops already deployed at Mile 91.
Already some Nigerian reinforcements have arrived, with more troops
expected to arrive during the week. Jetley denied that a number of
villages northeast of Mile 91 had been burnt down by rebels. They were
deserted because "people abandoned them fearing rebel advances,"
he told reporters. On Tuesday SLA spokesman Major John Milton said the RUF
had set fire to homes in two villages in Tonkolili District. The force
commander said UNAMSIL was continuing to negotiate with the RUF for the
release of 21 Indian peacekeepers held by the rebels in Pendembu. "We
continue to hold negotiations with RUF field commanders including
Brigadier Issa Sesay," he said. "We are in daily contact with
the hostages, sending them logistics support regularly every second day
and our doctors are visiting them to assess their health. We are having
discussions with people on the ground and they too
above
the current $500 million. "Understand the limitations that the U.N.
has in bringing about peace. They can negotiate, they can keep the peace
once it is established. They are not a war-fighting organization,"
said Representative Harold Rogers. Rogers (left), who as chairman of a
House Appropriations Committee subcommittee responsible for overseeing the
budgets of State, Commerce and Justice Departments, was responsible
for blocking the funding. Rogers said Congress needed to impose more
discipline on the United Nations, which he said had been too free in
deploying costly missions, often sending inadequately trained peacekeeping
troops into situations which called for military troops instead. He
insisted that the bill would not bar funding for peacekeeping operations
in Africa, but would require that peace first be established to avoid a
repeat of the capture of over 500 peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone by
the RUF. Rogers suggested that instead of funding UNAMSIL, the U.S. should
provide military help to Nigeria to end the conflict in Sierra Leone.
Under a U.N. funding formula the U.S. is charged for 30.4 percent of
peacekeeping costs. Congress in recent years has limited the U.S. share to
25 percent.
to serve in Sierra Leone if a
British military presence is required, a Ministry of Defence spokesman
said on Monday. No decision has yet been made as to whether some 200
members of the 2nd Royal Anglian Regiment will be replaced when their tour
of duty is complete at the end of July. They are currently providing basic
military training to 1,000 Sierra Leonean soldiers at the Benguema
Military Training Centre outside of Freetown. Meanwhile, the amphibious
helicopter carrier HMS Ocean (pictured right) returned to port at Devenport Monday after helping to stabilise the security situation
in Sierra Leone. Arriving from Sierra Leone with the Ocean were five
other British ships, HMS Chatham, RFA Fort George, RFA Fort Austin, RFA
Sir Bedivere and RFA Sir Tristram.
Thursday
over a recommendation by EU foreign ministers last week to freeze EU 50
million (about $48 million) in redevelopment aid earmarked for Liberia.
British Foreign Office Minister Keith Vaz said British intelligence
reports showed Taylor's government was supplying the RUF with illicit arms
and that the Liberians were profiting from the illegal sale of Sierra
Leonean diamonds. A statement by the EU ministers accused Taylor of
"failing to act" to prevent the arms from reaching the RUF, and
said that future EU policy toward Liberia would "take full account of
Liberia's behaviour in regard to Sierra Leone." EU officials said
Thursday, however, that the matter was still being considered and that no
final decision had been made on the aid package. "Liberia is not
going to get on her knees because Britain wants Liberia on her
knees," Taylor said. "We welcome assistance, but I think Liberia
should see this as a challenge for us to go out and be self-sufficient and
independent." Meanwhile, Taylor has imposed work and travel
restrictions on British nationals and non-governmental organisations in
Liberia. According to BBC Monrovia correspondent Jonathan Paye-Layleh,
Taylor advised British nationals not to venture into certain parts of the
country, and told British charities to "slow down their
operations" in areas near the Sierra Leone border. He said this was
because of anti-British sentiment in the area. "It is for their own
safety," he said. "We have the right and duty to protect foreign
nationals in the country." Taylor said the restrictions would remain
in place until such sentiments had subsided. Taylor also alleged Britain
was using Sierra Leone to try to make Liberia politically unstable.
"Britain has brought in tons and tons and tons of arms and ammunition
into Sierra Leone, and Liberia believes that the purpose is to destablise
this government," Taylor said. "If Liberians are asleep, you'd
better wake up because I am awake." The Liberian president called on
the West African sub-region to take seriously what he claimed was a
military build-up in Sierra Leone, and accused the departing British
military force of having left behind everything to carry out death and
destruction, Paye-Layleh said.
of
women, war-affected children, amputees, refugees and internally-displaced
persons, Canadian International Development Minister Maria Minna told an
international conference on Sierra Leone on Wednesday. The conference,
organized by Partnership Africa Canada, brought Sierra Leonean civil
society activists, international non-governmental organisations, the
private sector and the media to Ottawa this week for discussions on peace,
justice and sustainable development in the war-torn West African country.
Minna said that while men also suffered during conflict, children and
women in many cases seemed to bear the brunt of war. While it was often
easier to provide "physical" things such as medicine, food and
shelter, she noted, "the hardest part is dealing with the emotional
and dealing with the reintegration, dealing with the pain and scars."
Minna said the release of children abducted by Sierra Leone's rebels must
be a precondition before discussions or negotiations over a settlement of
the current crisis could take place. "I think we have to try almost
any imaginative way we come up with to protect our children, and to make
sure that they first are not drawn into conflict; secondly, when they are,
that we can get them out as quick as possible," she said. Calling
Canada's commitment to Sierra Leone "very clear and very
measurable," Minna noted that Canada had provided over C $13 million
in humanitarian assistance and peace-building efforts since last August.
"We cannot allow to happen in Sierra Leone, to continue to happen,
what’s happened over the last eight years," she said. "We
cannot go back in time. We
cannot allow that to happen...It is truly
unacceptable that it has happened, that it went on for eight
years." David Pratt, a Member of Parliament and Canada's Special
Envoy to Sierra Leone, told the conference that the basis of Canada's
interest and concern in Sierra Leone stemmed from his country's human
security agenda. "International security has traditionally been
regarded as the inviolability of borders between states," Pratt said.
"The human security agenda is one which is centered on the safety of
people, which is rooted in human rights and humanitarian law. It seeks to
address threats to human rights, human safety, and human lives...It
encompasses repression, terrorism, the use of child soldiers, violent
crime as well as environmental degradation, infections diseases and
natural disasters. It’s also predicated on the view that poverty and
insecurity are often linked. Without human security you cannot have
meaningful development or progress in terms of democracy, the rule of law,
governance or capacity-building." Pratt called Sierra Leone a test
case for human security as well as a test case for United Nations
involvement in Africa. "If the world community cannot get it right in
a relatively small country like Sierra Leone, what hope is there for
larger conflicts like the Democratic Republic of the Congo or
Angola?," he asked. Pratt said Canada was committed to improving the
situation in Sierra Leone by creating a "sustained interest within
the international community, and by working to control the diamond trade
"in a manner that will allow a de-linking of diamonds and conflict,
so that diamonds can be made an instrument of peace and development."
He also suggested that Canada might provide military assistance in an
advisory or training role, or even a small token force to help provide
security in Freetown. "Given some of the problems which have arisen
with respect to supplying U.N. troops, there might be some role in
providing logistical and communication support or even lethal support with
respect to weapons and weapons and ammunition," he said. On the issue
of impunity and the need to prosecute those who had committed war crimes,
Pratt said the Canadian government's position was clear. "Crimes
against humanity must be prosecuted using a process which is in accord
with international standards and which is agreed to by the government of
Sierra Leone," he said.
Nations, called Tuesday for some form of
international tribunal to be set up to try rebel leaders accused of war
crimes in Sierra Leone. Holbrooke told the U.N. Security Council that
President Kabbah had requested that jurisdiction of an existing war crimes
tribunal, such as the one set up for the former Yugoslavia and later
extended to cover the 1994 Rwanda genocide, be extended to Sierra Leone.
Holbrooke said he was against the creation of a new U.N. tribunal, but
that he he had talked to the prosecutor of these courts, Carla del Ponte,
about what could be done. "Some form of extension of the
international war crime umbrella to cover these odious people must be
undertaken," Holbrooke said, adding: "Some form of international
umbrella as suggested by the president of Sierra Leone is something I
believe must be looked at very positively and with the view towards action
at the earliest possible opportunity...We do not believe that Sierra Leone
can have a peaceful and stable future before they are brought
to
justice." Britain meanwhile has circulated a draft Security Council
resolution calling for detained RUF leader Foday Sankoh to be brought to
justice. The resolution asks U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to examine
any request for help in prosecuting those responsible for serious
violations of Sierra Leonean and international law. In Freetown,
Information Minister Dr. Julius Spencer (pictured right) was quoted Tuesday as saying his
government had asked for a tribunal to operate in Sierra Leone under a
combination of Sierra Leonean and international law. "The tribunal
will be set up to try for crimes past and present," he said.
"The initial work has begun." In a statement broadcast over
state radio late on Tuesday, the government said that in taking hostage
more than 500 U.N. peacekeepers and in advancing on Freetown, the RUF had
breached the Lomé Peace Accord. "It is the view of the government
that since the RUF has reneged on the Lomé Peace Agreement and has resumed
hostilities against the people of Sierra Leone and because of the
magnitude of the crimes committed by members of the RUF against Sierra
Leoneans and against international law, the issue of individual
accountability of the leadership of the RUF for such crimes should be
addressed immediately," the statement said. In Washington, U.S. State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters there needed to be
"accountability and justice" for Sankoh. "We have said
quite clearly we don't think he has any continuing role in the
process," Boucher said. "We've also said that we look to the
Government of Sierra Leone and the UN Security Council to determine what's
the best way to bring him to justice and to have accountability. So while
I'm not aware of that specific proposal having been made, it has been
discussed before, and certainly we would look forward to discussing it
with others in the Security Council as well as the government."
additional Jordanian peacekeeping troops for Sierra Leone,
but appealed to other countries to join in the multi-national peacekeeping
effort. "Jordan has reinforced its troops on the ground and if I am
sure there is an absolute need for it and I approach His Majesty the King
I am sure they would want to consider," Annan said. "The United
Nations could not have mounted that operation in Sierra Leone without the
support of the Jordanians and the king and the army on the ground...They
are playing a very, very effective role." Reuters quoted diplomats as
saying the U.N. had approached Jordan, which currently has more than 2,000
peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, asking for at least 3,500 more troops.
Jordanian soldiers are also serving with U.N. peacekeeping forces in the
Balkans and East Timor.
Sierra
Leone back on track has asked Liberian President Charles Taylor to help
secure the release of 21 Indian peacekeepers held by the RUF in Pendembu,
as well as over 223 Indian peacekeeping troops and 11 military observers
encircled by rebel forces at Kailahun. "The delegation appealed to
President Charles Taylor to assist in the release of over 200 Indian
soldiers under (the) U.N. peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone that are
still being held hostage," the Liberian government said in a
statement issued late Sunday. In Delhi, an Indian foreign ministry
spokesman said Monday that one of the 21 Indian peacekeepers at Pendembu
had fallen seriously ill. "An Indian medical officer examined the
soldier and there is no urgent need for his evacuation," R.S. Jassal
told reporters. "We have stepped up political and diplomatic efforts
to secure the release of our soldiers and officers." The Liberian
government statement quoted Taylor as calling for proper security on both
sides of the border — a reference to allegations made last week by
Liberian officials that dissidents were preparing to launch an attack from
across the Sierra Leone border. It added that Taylor had reassured
President Kabbah about a build-up of Liberian troops along the border. "It is necessary to stop any conflict
between the two countries...the Liberia security forces would, with their
Sierra Leone counterparts, work to prevent would-be troublemakers from
engaging in any hostile activities," the statement said.
Liberia
that dissident former ULIMO fighters were preparing to launch an attack on
Liberia from across the Sierra Leone border, the Sierra Leone News Agency
(SLENA) reported on Monday. Norman said the allegations had first surfaced
last September. Since that time had had visited Liberia and President
Taylor had never brought the subject up, he said. Norman said the
accusations were false and that Sierra Leone had no intention of attacking
Liberia. He said the Sierra Leone government was not taking lightly the
deployment of Liberian troops along the two countries' common border,
adding that enough troops were deployed in the area to prevent a breach of
Sierra Leone's territorial integrity.
Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ibrahim Kamara
(pictured right), said the court would probably combine elements of Sierra
Leonean and international law, and might be based in another country in
the region, such as Nigeria, Mali or Senegal. He said there was increasing
support in the U.N. Security Council for such a tribunal, and that the
Sierra Leone government might eliminate the option to impose the death
penalty to attract international support. "Our people say they just
want to execute (Sankoh)," Kamara said. "We are trying to say he
doesn't need to die instantly. Let him die slowly."
civilians
as hostilities intensified between the rebels, pro-government troops and
U.N. peacekeepers in Northern Province. An Amnesty International team of
human rights experts is currently in Sierra Leone compiling testimonies
from victims of human rights abuses, and in a press release Thursday
called for every effort to be made to protect civilians. The human rights
group cited eyewitness testimony of civilians fleeing violence being
threatened with and subjected to physical violence as they attempted to
pass RUF checkpoints on the road south to Mile 91. In the statement,
Amnesty International stressed that continuing abuses of human rights,
including killings, rapes and abductions, were not covered under the
blanket amnesty provision of the Lomé Peace Accord. The group has called
on the U.N. Security Council, which is currently considering a draft
resolution on Sierra Leone, "to finally address the issue of impunity
and resolve unambiguously that all those responsible for human rights
abuses be brought to justice." Amnesty International also called on
UNAMSIL to fulfill its mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat
of violence, including the tens of thousands fleeing threats of fighting
in the Makeni and Magburaka area. The group called on the Security Council
to review UNAMSIL's mandate to "provide a clearer mandate for the
protection of the human rights of all civilians at all times" and to
ensure that U.N. peacekeepers had the necessary training and logistics to
protect civilians throughout the country.
Britain's
continued support for the Sierra Leone government. "It's a long-term commitment
to democracy itself, the association between Britain and Sierra Leone has
been a very long one," he said following a meeting with President
Kabbah in Freetown. "The association at the moment is to give help
and assistance to the legitimate, democratic government here. I think we
have shown now we're moving into the second phase with the removal of
combat troops, and taking action internationally and the training troops
clearly show that there will be the support and development for the people
of Sierra Leone. That is good evidence of a continuing support and not
simply a short-term exercise where you came in with combat troops and
left." Prescott arrived in Freetown Thursday, even as the last of
Britain's Royal Marines were set to pull out of Sierra Leone. "We are
not leaving. We are in the second phase when we are restoring and helping
in the democracy," Prescott said after meeting the last contingent of
marines on their way to the amphibious helicopter carrier HMS Ocean. The
British operation, code named "Operation Palliser," formally
ended at midnight on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the commander of the British
task force in Sierra Leone, Brigadier David Richards, said Thursday he was
confident both
Wednesday
in advance of their second round World Cup qualifying match against
Nigeria's Super Eagles. "I am yet to be officially told the reason
for the late arrival," Sierra Leone's High Commissioner to Nigeria,
Joe Blell, told the Sierra Leone Web. "I do hope they will arrive
sometime on Friday as the Nigerians are looking forward to this game on
Saturday." Nigerian Football Association spokesman Austin Mgbolu, who
was at the airport Wednesday, told Nigeria's P.M. News that the
association was not bothered by what he called the hide-and-seek posture
of the Sierra Leonean team, adding that he was sure the Super Eagles would
triumph on Saturday.
direct
contact with the RUF on Tuesday in an effort to free 21 Indian
peacekeepers held hostage in Pendembu. "We expect some response to
this initiative," an Indian foreign office spokesman said in New
Delhi. He said India's ambassador in Dakar, Senegal would meet with Malian
President Alpha Oumar Konare, the current ECOWAS chairman, to assist in
resolving the crisis. In Freetown, UNAMSIL spokesman David Wimhurst said
the U.N. was "actively working" to secure the peacekeepers'
release. "We have visited them with medical assistance; they’re all
healthy. We daily bring food in to them, so we are in contact with
them," he told the BBC. "The RUF has pledged it will not harm
them, but it has yet to release them as we in the international community
insist."
Wednesday to deny the RUF was losing ground to pro-government forces. She
gave her name as "Colonel Chakra," but a source close to the RUF
identified her to the Sierra Leone Web as Josephine Tengbeh, RUF leader
Foday Sankoh's former wife. The two separated earlier this year, and
Tengbeh reportedly now lives with her two children in Abidjan. "I don’t
think they are pushing us back. I don’t think so," she told the BBC
Focus on Africa programme. "Lunsar is not lost, it’s a no-man’s
land. Nobody’s occupying Lunsar." She said the RUF's goal was to
capture Freetown, despite the presence of the U.N. peacekeeping force.
"They shouldn’t be expecting us to come through Waterloo or through
the peninsula, we can come from anywhere," she said. "The war we
are fighting in Sierra Leone now is a war of surprises. You know, you just
take people unawares and do what you want to do." She said the RUF
would only negotiate the release of U.N. peacekeeping troops detained in
eastern Sierra Leone after the government released RUF officials in
Freetown, including RUF leader Foday Sankoh. "(The peacekeepers'
release) will be decided by the government of Tejan Kabbah," she
said. "We asked him when he’s going to release our people and then
we’ll talk."
of
Sierra Leone last month to support British troops in Freetown, has
returned to Portsmouth naval base in Britain. The Illustrious had been
returning to Portsmouth in May after helping with relief efforts in
flood-ravaged Mozambique when it was diverted to Sierra Leone. Group
Captain David Walker, of 3 Squadron of the RAF, told the British Press
Association that his men had flown low-level missions over RUF forces in
Sierra Leone. He said flights from the Illustrious had a psychological
effect on the rebels and reassured pro-government troops on the ground.
Meanwhile, the last of the British 1,000-strong British force is due to
pull out of Sierra Leone on Thursday. They are being replaced by 50
military trainers and 150 soldiers assigned to provide security to the
trainers, who will conduct a six-week training course for 1,000 Sierra
Leonean soldiers at the Benguema military training centre.