31 August 2000: A spokesman for the West Side Boys said Thursday the renegade militiamen abducted eleven British troops and a Sierra Leonean soldier last week "because they entered into our area of responsibility; they had no communication with us and our commander." Five of the British soldiers were released on Wednesday. The spokesman, who gave his name as "Colonel Cambodia," called the BBC on a satellite telephone provided to the militia by the British Ministry of Defence in order to facilitate negotiations. He said the West Side Boys, a militia which includes disloyal soldiers and criminals released from prison during the 1997 militia coup, were still a part of the Sierra Leone Army. He said they distrusted the government, and would not disarm until their demands were met. "We won’t give up until we revisit the Lomé Peace Accord. That is the first one," the spokesman said. "And then secondly, they have to release all the AFRC detainees including our wives, our children, and our brothers. Only we need an interim government. In fact the AFRC has got a new leader. No more J.P. (Johnny Paul Koroma) because J.P. betrayed us. Now we have got another AFRC representative or a leader here, who is Brigadier-General F. Kallay."  "Colonel Cambodia" said the West Side Boys believed they could pass their grievances along to the government through the British hostages, and would hold them until their demands were met. "We overthrew the SLPP government (in May 1997)," he said. "The government is against us, although we are the strong forces in this country, but due to the activity or the negligence of the politicians, they don’t want to recognise us." Information Minister Dr. Julius Spencer said the West Side Boys had made no demands directly to the Sierra Leone government, and that those made by "Colonel Cambodia" on the BBC would not be met. He said members of the group under arrest were being held for criminal actions, and warned that the West Side Boys risked criminal charges if they continued with their actions. 

Five British soldiers released by the West Side Boys on Wednesday have been debriefed at Benguema Military Training Centre. "They were naturally tired. They have been taken to a place where they can recover and get some rest. They were medically checked. They are fit and well," said Brigadier Gordon Hughes, the commander of British forces in Sierra Leone. "We have plans to continue the talks with the West Side Boys today," he added. The British military spokesman in Sierra Leone, Lieutenant-Commander Tony Cramp, insisted no concessions were granted in exchange for the release of the soldiers. "We have done no deal with the West Side Boys," he said. He said negotiations were continuing in a "calm and positive manner" to secure the release of the rest of the hostages. "There is no time plan" he said. Meanwhile, a delegation of relatives of the West Side Boys went into the bush late Wednesday to appeal to the militiamen to release their hostages, former AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma told Reuters. "We have plans to continue the talks with the West Side Boys today," Koroma said. He previously had indicated the meeting would have to be postponed until Thursday because of transportation difficulties. Koroma said the former soldiers still had not explained why they abducted the British soldiers. "They only said that the British went into their territory and for them to do that, the West Side Boys had to kidnap them," he said. One relative said the delegation had offered the former soldiers bread, sugar and powdered milk, but no money. "They assured us that they will soon come out of the bush after they release the remaining British hostages," the relative said.

A senior officer for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has recommended an increase in U.S. assistance to provide shelter for tens of thousands of internally displaced persons in Sierra Leone. Hugh Parmer, USAID's Assistant Administrator for Humanitarian Relief, told Reuters that on a three-day visit to the country he founds tens of thousands of people crammed into overcrowded public buildings. "I'm going to recommend that we increase our contribution to the shelter program...We could probably provide sufficient plastic sheeting and, depending on the availability of lumber there, shelter for people in the tens of thousands," he said. He said the first step would be to send an officer from USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to Sierra Leone to assess how many shelters were needed, and the materials required to build them. He added that the best option would be shelters made of a light wooden frame and plastic sheeting, which could maintain a family "in reasonably clean and healthy circumstances." Parmer said he found the displaced persons in Sierra Leone in better health than in other countries with humanitarian crises. "I left with somewhat of a hopeful sense. If we can control the security situation, it's not something that's impossible to fix, from a humanitarian perspective," he said. In the current fiscal year the United States has spent about $40 million on humanitarian assistance in Sierra Leone, including $23 million on food programmes.

UNAMSIL has transported five armoured personnel carriers recovered from the RUF to Port Loko, and plans to transport two more by helicopter shortly, a U.N. spokesman said in New York. Six of the vehicles seized were handed over to UNAMSIL Deputy Commander Mohammed A. Garba  Wednesday at Makoth village. A seventh vehicle ran out of fuel on the way to Makoth, but UNAMSIL has sent more fuel to retrieve it, the spokesman said. The armoured personnel carriers were seized from Zambian peacekeeping troops in May. The spokesman said Garba was making contact with the RUF in an attempt to retrieve all the remaining weapons and equipment which had been seized by the rebels.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to act soon on a recommendations by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to increase the authorised strength of UNAMSIL from 13,000 to 20,500 troops, Council President Agam Hasmy of Malaysia said on Friday. Ambassador Hasmy said Council members would be discussing a British-sponsored draft resolution which took into account Annan's recommendations. 

30 August: The West Side Boys on Wednesday released five of eleven British soldiers they abducted last week after what what a foreign office spokesman in London described as "intense negotiation." The five were reported late in the day to have reached Freetown. "We'll continue negotiations first thing in the morning," the spokesman said. "The negotiations have got us this far, and we hope they will be successful in getting the rest released as soon as possible." The spokesman for the British forces in Sierra Leone, Lieutenant-Commander Tony Cramp, welcomed the news of the soldiers' release, but expressed concern for the remaining six British soldiers and one Sierra Leonean still being held in the bush. He declined to give details on the circumstances surrounding the men's release or to say whether a deal had been struck with the West Side Boys. The five soldiers are expected to undergo a lengthy debriefing to determine the circumstances surrounding their capture and detention. "We have set procedures for this sort of reception, going through a full debriefing cycle," Cramp said. "That will involve taking them through their story and answering questions to give us information on their ordeal." Meanwhile, an initiative by former AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma to arrange a meeting between the West Side Boys and a delegation of about ten relatives had to be postponed until Thursday because of lack of transportation. "We had to send in a letter to the West Side Boys through the Jordanian peacekeepers for them to know that relatives will be visiting them to discuss the release of the British," Koroma said. "We have received a reply. I believe they will be meeting tomorrow." In a call-in radio talk show Tuesday night, the relatives called on the West Side Boys to free their captives. "I am not really happy about the behaviour of holding the British people, simply because these people are here to assist us and this is a high time they should stop fighting and they should come on board so that we try to develop this nation," said the uncle of one of the kidnappers. Koroma said West Side Boys commander Brigadier Kallay had written a letter to him and to the British High Commission on Tuesday with new demands, including setting up an interim government in which he would be a member. Kallay described himself as the new chairman of the AFRC, the title held by Koroma during the period of junta rule. Koroma disassociated himself from the former soldiers earlier this month, saying that if a faction known as the AFRC still existed and claimed allegiance to him, it should be disbanded. Previous demands by the West Side Boys were said to include food and medicine, and the release of at least one of their commanders, named as "Brigadier Bombblast" or "Brigadier Papa." Earlier, Lieutenant-Commander Tony Cramp said negotiators met with one of the hostages on Tuesday. The soldier, accompanied by West Side Boys, met a negotiating team led by British Colonel Simon Fordham for just a few minutes.

The Deputy Commander of UNAMSIL, Nigerian Brigadier-General Mohammed A. Garba, has rejected a British account of events which led to the abduction of 12 soldiers by the West Side Boys on Friday, 11 of them members of Britain's Royal Irish Regiment. Brigadier Gordon Hughes, the commander of British forces in Sierra Leone, said Monday the soldiers had been coordinating security arrangements with Jordanian peacekeepers at Masiaka. "The British troops completed their mission...and on their way back to Benguema (Military Training Centre) they were stopped and detained," Hughes said. But Garba said it wasn't true. "That is one thing I want to categorically deny, because the rate at which things are going, the British may have a tendency to shift blame on the U.N. troops deployed in that place," Garba said on Tuesday. He also denied the British claim that the soldiers were travelling back toward Freetown when they were captured. Instead, Garba said, they were travelling east from the capital when they made a left turn into an area known to be controlled by the West Side Boys. "They went in over six miles," he said. Garba denied the British soldiers had met the Jordanian troops, and said U.N. peacekeepers didn't know what the British troops were doing when they were captured. "The British did not say to U.N. peacekeepers in Masiaka that they were going into West Side Boys' rebel positions which I would describe as very dangerous," Garba said. Hughes played down the dispute Wednesday, saying it would not help secure the men's release. "It is really far too early to speculate on the circumstances surrounding the detention of our soldiers. Whenever they have been safely released there will be a full and accurate report released, that is normal procedure," he said. "My focus is very much making sure that our soldiers are released safely and quickly."

RUF rebels on Wednesday handed over six armoured vehicles they seized in May from Zambian and Kenyan peacekeepers. The vehicles were turned over to UNAMSIL's Deputy Commander, Brigadier-General Mohammed A. Garba, by RUF commander Brigadier-General Moris Kallon at Makoth village, not far from the RUF stronghold of Makeni. "We have no problem with the United Nations," Kallon told Garba in front of reporters and U.N. personnel who accompanied the deputy commander to the town by helicopter. "We are handing over these vehicles and we will continue to give back the rest of the UNAMSIL weapons that we have in our possession in the interests of peace...This time around the RUF is ready to work with the government and the people of Sierra Leone in the interests of peace, as long as President Kabbah wants peace." Garba described the return of the vehicles as a turning point. "It's a clear manifestation that this time around you want peace," he told the rebel commander. In response to reporters' questions, Kallon showed little sympathy for the plight of British soldiers abducted by the West Side Boys on Friday. "As far as they are concerned, the British deserve the abduction by the West Side Boys because the British do not want to see peace in Sierra Leone," he said. "If they are determined to see peace, they should not have been training soldiers and sending weapons." Along with Kallon, Brigadier Bai Bureh and three RUF colonels were present at the handover ceremony, codenamed by UNAMSIL "Operation Turning Point."

The Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General in Sierra Leone, Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji, said Thursday that last week's meeting of chiefs of defence staff from UNAMSIL contributing countries debated the question of whether to change the force's mandate from peacekeeping to peace enforcement. "The preponderance of opinion seems to be for the time being that there is no need to change the mandate from peacekeeping to thorough peace enforcement," Adeniji told reporters in Freetown. "What is required, according to most delegations was the faithful implementation of the present mandate and particularly the application of those windows within the present mandate which referred and which derived the authority from Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations." Adeniji said the recommendation to increase UNAMSIL's authorised strength from 13,000 to 20,500 would make it possible for the peacekeeping force to deploy beyond its present location. In order to avoid a repeat of the near-collapse of UNAMSIL in May when the RUF "decided to practically violate the Lome Peace Agreement and sabotage the peace process," Adeniji said UNAMSIL was consolidating its troops in its areas of deployment and would use the new troops to further strengthen the U.N.'s deployment in the country. Adeniji said was "shocked" at the seizing of British troops by the West Side Boys, but expressed hope for a peaceful end to the crisis. "After 'Operation Thunderbolt' a number of (the West Side Boys) came out for disarmament, whilst a dissident number of them proved themselves uncontrollable," he said. "My hope is for them to change their course for a peaceful solution." 

29 August: Talks continued Tuesday between U.N. and British negotiators and the West Side Boys militia over the fate of 12 soldiers — 11 of them from Britain's Royal Irish Regiment and one from the Sierra Leone Army — abducted by the militia on Friday. On Monday a senior British officer, Colonel Simon Fordam, and West Side Boys commander Brigadier Kallay met face-to-face at the UNAMSIL base at Masiaka. The spokesman for the British military forces in Sierra Leone, Lieutenant-Commander Tony Cramp, stressed Tuesday that the fact dialogue was taking place was in itself progress. "The meetings are taking place in a calm atmosphere, and we wish to continue that," he told Radio France International. "So the fact that we are having meetings means the whole situation is moving on, and obviously we’re hoping for a speedy conclusion." Cramp confirmed that a team of negotiators had been flown in from Britain. He told reporters the group included members of the military and civilians, but he declined to comment on reports that the team included SAS special forces commandos. He said the detained soldiers had been in direct contact with their base and had confirmed that the were well and in good spirits. Meanwhile, about a dozen relatives of West Side Boys combatants met Tuesday at the best of former AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma's, and are preparing to appeal to the fighters to release their hostages. "This was just an early meeting. There are other meetings planned when there will be more people," said BBC West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle. According t the London Times, Koroma accompanied Colonel Fordham to Monday's with Brigadier Kallay. Until recently the West Side Boys professed at least a nominal loyalty to Koroma, but earlier this month the former AFRC leader formally disassociated himself with the militia after they clashed repeatedly with government troops, and resumed harassing civilians along the main highway out of Freetown. The Times said no negotiations took place, but that Kallay was handed a letter from the Sierra Leone government telling him to release the hostages. 

RUF spokesman Gibril Massaquoi said Tuesday the rebel group had been holding discussions with Deputy UNAMSIL force commander Brigadier-General M.A. Garba over the return of equipment seized from U.N. peacekeepers who were abducted in May. "We have made some suggestions to him as to where to pick up these things, and at the same time some of them are without fuel," Massaquoi told the BBC. "We’ve made that clear to him. We are discussing on the modalities, how to get these things out of our own territories." In New York, a U.N. spokesman said UNAMSIL was pressuring acting RUF leader General Issa Sesay to give back seven of its armoured personnel carriers and quoted Sesay as saying they might be returned on Wednesday. The promise came after the release on Friday of 171 RUF members who had been detained by the government, the spokesman said. Massaquoi said the Joint Implementation Committee set up to oversee the peace process was due to meet with the government and the RUF in Freetown, adding "and then we'll revisit the Lomé Peace Accord." The RUF spokesman said U.N. peacekeepers would be allowed to deploy in rebel-held territory, including the diamond-mining areas, but he appeared to indicate that only West African soldiers would be welcome. "We’ve made that in our press release to the ECOWAS leaders, that we want the ECOWAS sub-regional troops within UNAMSIL, who are to contribute troops, to deploy in our zones immediately," he said. Massaquoi denied a report Monday by BBC correspondent Sylvester Rogers that RUF rebels were harassing civilians in Port Loko and Kambia Districts. "I could tell you that that information is incorrect," he said. "We have not harassed any civilians...we have a very good relationship with the civilians. We have thousands of civilians behind the rebel lines."

28 August: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended Monday that UNAMSIL's authorised strength be increased to 20,500, including 260 military observers, to enhance the peacekeeping force's operational structure and overall effectiveness, and to allow the U.N. to deploy in key areas of Sierra Leone. "The presence of a robust and determined peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone should be part of a strategy to induce armed groups to disarm, in combination with strong incentives for their reintegration into Sierra Leone society," Annan said in his latest report to the Security Council. He also recommended a six-month extension of UNAMSIL's mandate, which is due to expire on September 8. The secretary-general stressed that the Sierra Leonean military remained an "essential element" of the peace process, and he urged the Sierra Leone government to extend its authority throughout the country, to consolidate its administration, and to develop the capacity to ensure its own security. He also appealed to the government and its international partners to prepare projects that would allow ex-combatants the opportunity of a "new and more constructive life." Annan told reporters Monday that the U.N. was taking steps to strengthen the peacekeepers by giving them the tools they needed to defend themselves and their mandate. "I think we cannot ignore or condone this tendency in Sierra Leone for rebels to take peacekeepers hostage," he said. "I think the rebels have to be careful not to go around believing that it is easy to take peacekeepers as hostages because they do have robust rules of engagement and they are going to be defending themselves. And I hope they'll be dissuaded from pursuing this tack."

Sierra Leonean and British negotiators are expected to meet with the West Side Boys in an attempt to bring about the release of 12 soldiers, including 11 British troops, abducted by the militia on Friday. "We don't believe that there is any other option (than negotiation), and we believe that our military observers and peacekeepers on the ground, especially the Jordanian battalion stationed around the area will do a lot to end the crisis," UNAMSIL military spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Patrick Coker told the Agence France-Presse (AFP). Meanwhile, negotiations continued by radio Monday in an effort to bring about the soldiers' release. "UNAMSIL military observers and Jordanian peacekeepers at Masiaka, close to the base of the West Side Boys, continue to have dialogue with the West Side Boys for the immediate release of the 11 British soldiers and one Sierra Leonean soldier," Coker said on state radio. British military spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Tony Cramp said Monday that negotiations were taking place between British officers and the West Side Boys, with UNAMSIL facilitating the talks and providing security. Cramp said negotiators had opened a dialogue with the militia through one of its leaders, known as Brigadier Kallay. "The last 24 hours we have had continued dialogue with the West Side group regarding the detainees — the soldiers from the 1st Royal Irish Regiment — and we have been in contact with them directly and we do know they’re safe, well, they haven’t been harmed, and they are being looked after," Cramp said. Lieutenant-Commander Coker expressed hope that the soldiers would be freed soon, but he ruled out the use of force by the U.N. should negotiations fail. "UNAMSIL's position in Sierra Leone is for peace," he said. "We are not going to use force. We believe by the efforts of UNAMSIL, the government and the British themselves they will be released very soon." A British Ministry of Defence spokesman, however, hinted at the possibility of stronger measures should the talks fail. "We have every confidence to believe we will be able to secure the peaceful release of these soldiers, but we are not complacent," he said. Late Sunday, the spokesman confirmed that "a team of extra staff officers" had left for Sierra Leone to help secure the soldiers' release. Several British newspapers reported the government had sent a SAS special forces team and two police hostage negotiators to Sierra Leone in case they were needed, but the spokesman declined to confirm the report. "It is just a team of people who are going out there to help with the talks, and they are experts in helping with negotiations. We will not actually comment on who the persons are," he said. In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed hope for the soldiers' early release. "There are expectations that they will be released and progress will be made, and I hope that will be the case," he said. Brigadier Gordon Hughes, the commander of British forces in Sierra Leone, said the abducted soldiers had been coordinating with Jordanian peacekeepers on security arrangements in the Masiaka area. "The British troops completed their mission in the area on Friday the 25th, and on their way back to Benguema (Military Training Centre) they were stopped and detained," he said. The West Side Boys are reportedly demanding food and medicine, as well as the release of one of their imprisoned commanders, "Brigadier Bombblast," also known as "Brigadier Papa," in exchange for releasing the hostages. The AFP reported the West Side Boys were demanding the release of three of their officers, while the Pool newspaper reported they were insisting the government free another commander, "Brigadier 55." But Information Minister Dr. Julius Spencer stressed the militia's objectives were not clear. "We don't quite yet know what they want," he said. "We need to be clear exactly why they carried out the abductions. We don't yet have that information. Whether we can rely on them - well, they are a group of unreliable people anyway, we will just have to see how it goes." Lieutenant-Commander Cramp also stressed that it was "too early to start speculating" on the West Side Boys' demands. "There’s nothing specific on that yet and we really wouldn’t want to prejudice any negotiations going on at the moment," he told Radio France International.

Residents fleeing from RUF-held areas of Port Loko and Kambia Districts are reporting renewed rebel harassment of civilians, resulting in the emptying of towns and villages, BBC correspondent Sylvester Rogers reported on Monday. "I understand from those fleeing that the RUF has resorted to levying heavy taxations on the people. One eyewitness told me that each household in his locality is forced to provide five litres of palm oil and Le 5,000 (about $2.00) a week to feed RUF rebels," Rogers said. "Parents are forced to pay ransom money of about $15.00 for the freedom of their children from conscription. Those who do not conform to the RUF demands are given 48 lashes on their buttocks with electric cables." There has been no independent confirmation of the accounts.

27 August: The West Side Boys militia is demanding food and medicine in exchange for the release of 11 British troops and one Sierra Leonean soldier they took hostage on Friday, a Sierra Leonean official was quoted as saying. The negotiations, which a British Ministry of Defence spokesman said were "at a very early stage," are reportedly being conducted by UNAMSIL and British commanders in Sierra Leone. A second Sierra Leonean official said the West Side Boys were also demanding the release of their reputed leader, "Brigadier Bombblast," also known as "Brigadier Papa," from Pademba Road Prison. "The West Side Boys are making demands for the immediate release of one of their leaders...who has been detained at the central prison in Freetown for almost two months," the official said. "Brigadier Bombblast" was involved in a shootout in June with another former AFRC commander, "Brigadier 55," reportedly over a vehicle they seized in May from RUF leader Foday Sankoh. Former AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma called on the West Side Boys to release the soldiers. "The continuing holding of people coming to Sierra Leone to assist in the peace process does not augur well. I therefore ask you that, the earlier the better, you free the British soldiers," Koroma said in a letter to the fighters. Koroma also demanded that they leave the bush and disarm. The West Side Boys previously professed loyalty to Koroma, but the relationship deteriorated after the fighters clashed repeatedly with Sierra Leone Army soldiers and resumed harassing traffic along the highway east of Freetown. Earlier this month Koroma formally disassociated himself with them, calling the West Side Boys a "minority group of hard core and wayward criminals" with no political ideology or legitimate cause. In July, UNAMSIL launched "Operation Thunderbolt" to clear the highway of West Side Boys checkpoints. Within weeks, however, some of the checkpoints were reported to be back in place. While the West Side Boys are nominally a faction of ex-soldiers loyal to the former AFRC military junta, BBC correspondents Mark Doyle and Lansana Fofana stressed Sunday that many of them were not former soldiers, but rather criminals who had been released from Pademba Road Prison. "They are therefore afraid to come back to town," Fofana said. "They are armed and dangerous, and they are used to the culture of violence, lawlessness, abductions, as well as dispossessing commuters on the highway." British Defence Minister John Spellar said the 12 soldiers were reported to be well. "We're very pleased that he has been able to report that the 11 of our forces and also the liaison officer from the Sierra Leone army are being well treated and also being fed, he said. "In the meantime we're obviously working very closely with the government of Sierra Leone in order for talks to start to secure their release." The British soldiers, most of whom are from Northern Ireland, are among some 300 troops of the Royal Irish Regiment's 1st Battalion posted at the Benguema Military Training Centre, where they have been training recruits for the restructured Sierra Leone Army. They were due to be replaced in mid-September.

26 August: Eleven soldiers from Britain's Royal Irish Regiment and one Sierra Leone Army soldier went missing Friday near the towns of Masiaka and Forudugu, amid reports they were abducted by former soldiers known as the West Side Boys. "The West Side Boys captured 12 soldiers attached to the British training team in Sierra Leone together with three military Land Rovers yesterday and they have been held hostage. The team of 12 was patrolling along the Freetown-Masiaka highway near to a small village called Forudugu where they were held by the armed West Side rebels and taken to their base, Reuters quoted a Sierra Leonean military source as saying." A spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence was less certain as to the whereabouts of the missing troops. "We have now confirmed that they are being held in Sierra Leone and we've had a message from one of the soldiers. That message concerned that they are in good health and being well looked after," he said. "It's not clear at this stage who they're being held by or why they're being held." A helicopter search for the missing men on Saturday morning was unsuccessful. The British soldiers are part of the approximately 300-strong detachment of military trainers and support troops posted at the Benguema Military Training Centre, where they were training Sierra Leonean recruits for the restructured army.

Sierra Leonean journalist Sorious Samura gave details Saturday of maltreatment he suffered at the hands of Liberia's National Security Agency during his detention on charges of spying. Samura, the author of the acclaimed documentary "Cry Freetown," and three other U.K.-based journalists were arrested a week ago in their Monrovia hotel room and accused of manufacturing evidence to support charges the Liberian government was involved in diamond smuggling and gun-running on behalf of Sierra Leone's RUF rebels. "I was...smuggled into a dark room and the other three guys were put into one cell," Samura told the BBC. "And then somebody came me with a knife and he was brandishing the knife saying, since I was there to write "Cry Liberia" he was going to split my chest and eat my heart and then use my blood to write 'Cry Samura'." He said the guard fanned smoke into his cell to make it difficult for him to breathe, and threw cockroaches on him in during the night. After lawyers for the journalists complained publicly about their treatment, the Minister of Justice ordered them removed from the National Security Agency and returned to Monrovia Central Prison. Samura acknowledged it was a "mistake" to enter Liberia with a lurid shooting script which, among other things, described President Taylor as a womanizer and a Mafia boss who earned $100 million a year on the sale of illicit diamonds and marijuana, and implied the Liberian leader had engaged in cannibalism. "That was only a proposal, and we had to write something attractive to get funding so that we will be able to do the documentary that we had wanted to do," Samura said. "But there is no way that we’re going to use part of what was on that document to do the documentary, because...I’m working absolutely in the interest of Africa, because I have got the West to understand that it’s about time we Africans take part in our own business. It’s about time we tell our own stories. So the documentaries were intended to make Africa’s case against some of the things that the West have not seen." Samura hinted that he might be willing to return to Liberia to finish the film. "I still think that there are people there whose story needs to be told, and I think it’s about time we Africans take part in our own business," he said. "We have to tell our own story. And if our leaders don’t get that, I think it’s about time they start getting it quite clear that we are ready to tell the African stories and turn the continent around."

25 August: The Sierra Leone government Friday released 171 persons from prison, most of them RUF members who had been held under the country's emergency regulations. Reuters quoted Moses Showers, the Deputy Director of Pademba Road Prison, as saying 84 persons were freed in Freetown, with the rest let go at Bo and Kenema. He said most of those released were RUF fighters, but there were also some civilians with ties to the RUF. Senior RUF figures such as Mike Lamin, who served as Minister of Trade and Industry in the unity government which followed the Lomé Peace Accord, and Alimamy Pallo Bangura, who served as Minister of Energy and Power, remain in detention.

The Liberian government has dropped all charges against four foreign journalists arrested in Monrovia a week ago. The four, including Sierra Leonean Sorious Samura (pictured left), were charged with espionage after the government alleged they had prepared "false documents" to support allegations that Liberia was involved in diamond smuggling and gun-running in Sierra Leone. Justice Minister Eddington Varmah said Friday the journalists had been freed on "humanitarian grounds" in exchange for an apology from them and their employers. "As far as the government is concerned, with the dropping of these charges, this case is closed,'' Varmah told reporters. Throughout the day Thursday defence lawyers and prosecutors met to work out a deal, and on Friday the journalists apologised to President Taylor in a handwritten note "for any offense which our action or statements have caused." In a BBC interview following their release, Taylor (right) said the journalists would be allowed to remain in Liberia and work without fear of harassment. "We want to make it very clear that journalists have nothing to be afraid of in Liberia — absolutely nothing," he said. "Even the tapes that they shot here, we are not seizing them from them. They may take them. I mean we don’t have anything against reporting the facts." But Taylor said his government was opposed to "people coming here with pre-conceived ideas, hypotheticals, misinformation, half-truths, only to prove a point." According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the four were released from Monrovia Central Prison early Friday and driven to the British consulate in Monrovia. From there, they were expected to travel to Abidjan before returning to London. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the four journalists would be allowed to leave Liberia "later this afternoon." Britain's Channel Four television, which hired the journalists, has insisted that they were in Liberia working on a documentary on how an African country could end a cycle of violence. "The film was discussed in detail with the Liberian authorities before we went, we had official written permission to film, we explained what the film was about and we had already interviewed the minister of defence," Programme Director Tim Gardham told the BBC on Tuesday. But an excerpt from the team's shooting script published by the BBC on Friday, written in London before the journalists ever arrived in Liberia, appears to take direct aim at Liberian President Charles Taylor: "Eight o'clock at night, Monrovia, Liberia. The streets are deserted. Reports have been heard earlier in the day of two murders of Mandingo tradesmen to the west of the city. The government has denounced dissident conspirators known to be plotting an invasion of the country in a five star bar in Freetown. Channel Four presenter Sorious Samura awkwardly checks his bowtie in the bathroom mirror of his decrepit hotel bedroom. He’s about to meet Africa’s first Mafia head of state — a fugitive from American justice known for his Rolls Royces, endless dating of beauty queens, and $100 million annual earnings from the illicit trade in diamonds and marijuana." According to a source at the BBC, the script also erroneously states that former President Samuel K. Doe was tortured to death by ULIMO-J leader Roosevelt Johnson, and his dismembered body paraded through the streets of Monrovia. In fact, Doe was captured and murdered in 1990 by Prince Johnson, a former Taylor protégé who broke away to form his own splinter group, the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia.

Nine Sierra Leone Army soldiers were killed and four others, including two Nigerian UNAMSIL troops, were injured in clashes with RUF fighters at the town of Kabatha, BBC correspondent Sylvester Rogers reported. "An escapee who arrived in Lungi told me yesterday that RUF rebels first attacked Port Loko town on Wednesday, but the attack was completely repelled by pro-government forces, and five rebels reportedly lost their lives," Rogers said. "Pro-government forces, in trying to extend their hold on the Port Loko District, launched an attack on an RUF position on the Port Loko-Kambia axis, but met with stiff resistance from the rebels. The report said pro-government forces had to rapidly retreat but Nigerian UNAMSIL troops hit back, inflicting heavy casualties on the rebels." Army Director of Media Relations Major John Milton said RUF fighters attacked government positions in Port Loko District on Thursday, seriously wounding two soldiers. He said five rebels were killed. Milton called on the RUF's new acting leader to stop the attacks. "I personally know General Issa Sesay and I know him as somebody who may be committed to peace," Milton said. "Therefore, I am calling on him to order his men to desist immediately from attacking government troop positions and to stop harassing civilians."

Army and intelligence sources told Reuters Friday that 27 members of the West Side Boys militia had been executed on Wednesday by their commander, Brigadier-General Kallay. He suspected them of wanting to surrender to UNAMSIL troops at Masiaka, Reuters said. There has been no independent confirmation of the report. 

The programme to reintegrate ex-combatants into society has resumed at the Lungi Demobilisation Centre following its suspension in May as a result of renewed fighting in the country, the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) said on Friday. Since August 15, the programme has processed 176 former combatants, including 107 from West Side, 45 from Wilberforce, 8 from Kabala and 16 from Port Loko, the NCDDR said in a press release. Reintegration Unit officials are currently exploring the possibility of attaching some of these ex-combatants to vocational institutions and public works programmes. "For this new phase to be speeded up, activities in the demobilisation programme have been scaled down considerably," the NCDDR statement said. Ex-combatants now receive relevant information on the Lomé Peace Accord, the DDR programme, and the re-entry plan: civic education and recreation. At Kenema earlier this month, more than 100 ex-combatant and non-combatant youths received certificates after completing the Youth Reintegration Training and Education Programme at Kenema. Aspects of the programme included agricultural production, child protection and health care. The programme was organised by the U.S. Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and World Vision, and was sponsored by USAID. About 300 youths received certificates after taking part in a similar programme in Freetown organised by the OTI and the Sackville Community Youth Organisation. On Monday, about 400 wives of ex-combatants were registered for micro-credit assistance, aimed at providing for their family needs. During the first cycle in the Western Area, the programme will benefit some 600 households. At Daru Demobilisation Centre, the NCDDR said there were currently 667 RUF and SLA combatants, 160 of whom had arrived since UNAMSIL's "Operation Kurkri" in early July. On August 15, the NCDDR and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure provision of technical assistance to support the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of child combatants. UNICEF Reintegration Officer Andy Brooks was quoted as saying that about 40 percent of the estimated 5,400 war-displaced children would never been reunited with their families due in part to difficulties in tracing their relatives. He said the challenge for child protection agencies was to set up alternative long-term care centres apart from existing interim care centres.

Finance Minister Dr. James O.C. Jonah said Friday the Sierra Leone government was satisfied with a proposal by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan that would increase the authorised strength of UNAMSIL from its current 13,000 troop limit. "I think in terms of the situation on the ground you must take into account that the secretary-general is basing figures his on the report of his commander in the field, and I think this is the right figure for the time being," Jonah told the BBC. "It may well be that at some future date they might increase it or maybe may decrease it. For now it is the correct figure." Jonah, who formerly served as Sierra Leone's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said that while his government would prefer UNAMSIL's mandate be changed from peacekeeping to peace-enforcement, there was no consensus for such a change among troop-contributing nations. "If you decide to go on peace enforcement, then you must be certain that the troop contributors are going to go along with you," he said. "So if they are not yet ready to do that, then it’s prudent to go with peacekeeping, but giving them the robust capacity to react to any attack from the RUF."

The BBC announced Friday it had begun test transmissions on its new 24-hour relay station in Freetown. The station transmits on a frequency of 94.3 FM.

24 August: Sierra Leone Army troops and Nigerian peacekeepers came under attack Wednesday from RUF fighters in the Port Loko area, according to U.N. sources. UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu was quoted as saying the attack on government troops took place late Wednesday at Kabatha Junction, about 80 miles north of Freetown. She said the army repelled the attack with an undetermined number of casualties on both sides. Later that night the rebels attacked a U.N. post along the road from Port Loko to Lungi. Two Nigerian soldiers were injured, Befecadu said. "The situation has now been brought under control," she told reporters. A U.N. spokesman in New York said the attack on U.N. peacekeepers involved about a company of RUF combatants, and lasted some four hours. He said the area was now quiet, but that troops had been placed on maximum alert.

Liberian Information Minister Joe Mulbah denied Thursday that four U.K.-based journalists held in Monrovia on espionage charges had been tortured. "At no time did anybody put a finger on any of the defendants as being alleged by their counselor Varney Sherman that they were beaten," Mulbah told the BBC. In fact, Varney only alleged the journalists had been subjected to "mental torture" by members of Liberia's National Security Agency, a charge Mulbah dismissed. "Well I think that Varney is looking for international sympathy. He knows that he has no case," he said. Liberian soccer star George Weah on Wednesday joined Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former South African President Nelson Mandela, Rev. Jesse Jackson and others in calling for the journalists' release, but Mulbah said Liberia intended to purse the charges. "We do not think it would be fair on our part charging defendants for particular crimes without the trial taking place — we just go and set them free," he said. "There is a procedure and we are definitely going to pursue the procedure until otherwise. A case has been carried to court. He who is brought down guilty will face the full weight of the law." Late Thursday the Associated Press, citing an anonymous source close to the defence and an independent Liberian radio station, reported defence lawyers had reached a deal with the government to release the journalists. The AP said an announcement was expected at a Friday news conference called by the Justice Ministry. Earlier, a spokeswoman for Channel Four television in London, which contracted with the journalists to produce the documentary, said lawyers would appeal the judge's decision to deny bail. "We are lodging an appeal with the Supreme Court over the bail decision," she said. In its indictment handed down on Monday, the Liberian government alleged the journalists, including Sierra Leonean Sorious Samura, were preparing a "damaging and injurious documentary on Liberia," that they had conducted interviews and filmed sensitive areas intended to be used against Liberia "during diplomatic confrontations and military events," and that they had prepared "false documents" to support allegations that "Liberia is involved with diamond trading and gun-running in the sisterly state of Sierra Leone." The government also alleged the defendants "filmed various scenes and criminally matched them to the various counts of the already-distributed script to show that the Government of Liberia is indeed involved in the civil conflict in Sierra Leone," and that their script portrayed Liberian President Charles Taylor "as a murderer to the viewers and the international community."

Sierra Leone's Embassy in Washington, D.C. warned Wednesday that time was running out for Sierra Leoneans and former Sierra Leone residents to take advantage of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which provides legal protection for those who have become de facto refugees in the United States or who entered the country illegally. Under TPS, Sierra Leoneans are allowed to apply for a visa and a work permit, and gain the right to hold employment and to travel without fear of arrest or deportation as long as the programme is in force. "The current TPS programme for refugees and illegal U.S. residents from Sierra Leone will terminate on November 2, 2000," the Embassy said in a statement. "After that date, further requests for TPS visas and work permits will not be accepted." The Embassy noted that Sierra Leoneans with valid student visas were also eligible to benefit from TPS. "We encourage them to apply for TPS visas and work permits, as this will enable them to lawfully seek full time employment," the statement said.

Army chiefs of staff from most of the nine countries contributing troops to UNAMSIL have told senior U.N. officials their soldiers could not be expected to participate in a "peace enforcement mission" in Sierra Leone, which would be tantamount to going to war against the RUF, a U.N. spokesman said. The military officers, from Bangladesh, Ghana, Guinea, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia and Zambia, stressed the responsibility of the international community to provide material support for the mission, and to promote a political solution to the conflict. The troop contributors also stressed the importance of a commitment by the Sierra Leone government "to do its utmost to stabilize the situation in the country, as well as to maintain political and military pressure on the RUF," the spokesman said.

23 August: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told army chiefs of staff from countries contributing troops to UNAMSIL Wednesday that the near-collapse of the mission in May exposed serious issues within the force which needed to be addressed. One problem, he said, was that of command and control, which needed to be united in order to decrease the risk of casualties. "I am sure you would agree that UNAMSIL needs to function as a single integrated unit that reflects the will and solidarity of the international community," Annan said. He went on to say that many of UNAMSIL's problems could be attributed to a lack of essential equipment, and he stressed that the U.N. was ready to work with troop-contributing nations to overcome logistical obstacles. Another problem involved the mission's rules of engagement, which had been "in a state of flux" since the force's establishment, leading to questions about when it was allowed to use force. "UNAMSIL has always been intended as a robust peacekeeping force — impartial in terms of its political position vis a vis the parties, but strong in its ability to deter attacks and to defend itself and its mandate should this become necessary," Annan said. "As I have often stressed, at times the United Nations needs to show force to avoid having to use it. And if the use of force is unavoidable, the United Nations should be capable of delivering in a credible fashion." Referring to the U.N. Security Council's call for a strengthened mandate for the peacekeeping force, Annan told the generals: "As you will understand, a strengthened mandate will also mean a need for more troops, and we may therefore have to ask you to provide additional units." He added that the U.N.'s priority was to avoid the use of force whenever possible and to first seek a political solution. The secretary-general stressed the importance of the U.N.'s peacekeeping efforts in Sierra Leone. "We must succeed in this endeavour, for the sake of the soldiers under our command, for the people of Sierra Leone, and for other countries where the peacekeeping abilities of the United Nations will be needed in times to come," he said. 

Four U.K.-based journalists arrested Friday night in Monrovia were denied bail Wednesday, amid charges by their head lawyer they had been tortured. "They were abused, and tortured and maltreated," Varney Sherman told the BBC. "They were threatened, they put cockroaches into their cells, they even threatened that they would cut them up," he said, adding that this constituted "mental torture." In a series of radio and print interviews, government officials have alleged the journalists were manufacturing evidence to support British and American allegations of Liberian government involvement in diamond smuggling and gun-running in support of Sierra Leone's RUF rebels. The four, including Sierra Leonean journalist Sorious Samura, were charged with espionage on Monday, and taken to the headquarters of the National Security Agency, a criminal investigation unit that reports directly to President Charles Taylor, where the abuse allegedly took place. After hearing the allegations of maltreatment, Judge Timothy Z. Swope ordered the men returned transferred back to Monrovia's Central Prison. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Britain was "extremely worried" about the reports of mistreatment. But she said a doctor from the U.S. Embassy examined the four after Wednesday's court hearing and had given them a clean bill of health. Sherman also decried the judge's decision to deny the defendants bail. "The judge said it is...a capital crime, and it is not a capital crime — it is not a capital punishment," he said. "And more than that, the judge says that the evidence is great, the presumption is great, the evidence is overwhelming, and what does he rely on? He relies on what he heard on VOA, he relies on what he heard on the radio. The judge went as far as saying that the crime has been committed against him and against the Liberian people. I mean, if the judge says that, what do you expect?" Sherman insisted the right to bail was not at the discretion of the judge. "It is mandatory," he said. "The right to bail is absolute, it’s constitutional, it’s statutory." Meanwhile, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said in London Wednesday he had urged Taylor to release the reporters when the two met in Monrovia on Monday, and he predicted that they would soon be free. "We impressed on President Taylor what we see as the danger of continuing to hold those four journalists and we deliberated together what we thought should be the way out," he said. "I must say he agreed...and I believe, sooner than later, those people will have their freedom." Obasanjo said Taylor had showed him a copy of the documentary script, which he termed as being in bad taste. "But having said that, there was not any doubt that those journalists were not spies, and we made that point clear," he said. But Taylor's spokesman, Reginald Goodridge, said pleas for the journalists' immediate release were unlikely to be successful. "Such appeals put our president in a quandary, because it is difficult for the president to interfere in the judicial process. This would make a mockery of our system of justice," he said. "We do have a system of justice here in Liberia and it will serve the journalists well. If they are found to be innocent, we will say 'We are sorry, please go.' If they are found guilty, it is at that point that the president could use his good judgment to pardon them or make any decision he wishes to make."

OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim visited the Murray Town Amputee Camp and a camp for displaced civilians Wednesday on the second day of his two-day visit to Freetown aimed at obtaining first-hand information on the changing situation in Sierra Leone. The OAU delegation also met with President Kabbah and senior government officials, UNAMSIL officers and detained RUF leaders at Pademba Road Prison. On Tuesday the OAU delegation donated $250,000 — $100,000 to the amputees, $100,000 to the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme, and $50,000 to the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace.

The first 14 members of a group of about 200 U.S. military trainers and support staff arrived in Nigeria Wednesday to begin training Nigerian troops for peacekeeping duties in Sierra Leone. The Americans are expected to train and equip about 3,000 Nigerian and Ghanaian troops to serve in the UNAMSIL force, including up to five Nigerian battalions of around 600 troops each. U.S. defence officials said the equipment will include mortars and machine guns, which would allow the soldiers to enforce peace if given the mandate. The U.S. has stressed human rights considerations, and one official said there would be "a significant component" of the Nigerians' training stressing the rules of war. "The aim is not to detoughen them, but to keep them legal," the official said.

Switzerland said on Wednesday it would join a United Nations embargo on the sale of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone unless they were accompanied by a government-issued certificate of origin. Switzerland is not a member of the U.N., but typically observes U.N. trade embargoes. The United States says it has evidence that Sierra Leonean "conflict diamonds" routinely pass through Switzerland, the Netherlands and Russia after being smuggled out of Africa.

22 August: The RUF said Tuesday it was prepared to co-operate with United Nations peacekeepers to implement the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme. "The RUF High Command calls for the early deployment of UNAMSIL troops from the sub-region in our areas of operation in Sierra Leone, and assures of our readiness to cooperate with them in order to ensure the success of the DDR programme in particular and the peace process in general," the RUF said in a statement issued in Monrovia. In May, the RUF abducted more than 500 U.N. peacekeepers who had deployed in RUF strongholds in northern and eastern Sierra Leone. They were freed only after a contact team sent by Liberian President Charles Taylor negotiated with RUF field commander General Issa Sesay for their release. Sesay was named Monday as acting RUF leader in place of Foday Sankoh, who was arrested in May. But Sesay himself was among those accused of maltreating U.N. abductees, including conducting a mock execution of an unarmed Norwegian military observer. "He threw a can of stout on my chest, then picked me up, put his pistol to my head and 'click'," Commander Knut Gjellestad told the British newspaper "Independent" after his release in late May. In its statement Tuesday, the RUF pledged to work with ECOWAS in bringing lasting peace to Sierra Leone, and said it hoped the Sierra Leone government would "fulfill its total obligations under the Lomé Accord."

General Issa Sesay, who on Monday was named to head the RUF in place of the imprisoned Foday Sankoh, is only an interim leader, Gibril Massaquoi (pictured right) told the BBC. "We still believe Foday Sankoh is our leader until whatsoever crime the government in Freetown feels he has committed is proved beyond all reasonable doubt, guilty, and whatsoever step will be taken against him," said Massaquoi, who was Special Assistant to Sankoh. "But we feel that it’s time to give the people of Sierra Leone peace, and during the process we will fight his case." Massaquoi spoke to the BBC from Monrovia, where Sesay was holding talks with Liberian leaders. He said the RUF's political and military wings had agreed on Sesay "because he has been the man in command." In a separate interview with Radio France International, Massaquoi said the RUF High Command had sent a letter to Sankoh through ECOWAS representatives suggesting that Sesay become interim leader, and that Sankoh had approved the change. "What we have done is we have consulted both the political and military wings of the RUF, and we deem it necessary to appoint General Issa Sesay as interim leader, so as to revisit the Lomé Accords and have it implemented to the letter," Massaquoi said.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has received reports of some 10,000 people waiting to cross the Melie River from Kono District to Gueckedou, Guinea, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva. Over the weekend only 489 were able to cross due to the small size of the which can carry only 15 passengers at a time. The UNHCR is concerned at the poor condition of the canoes, and has recommended the purchase of 50 life vests and four big pirogues capable of transporting 400 persons at a time. The newly-arrived refugees are transferred to Katkama Refugee Camp under an understanding with Guinean authorities, who are allowing them to enter on condition they be relocated to areas further from the border. The UNHCR currently has two camps with a capacity of 2,500 refugees and is considering building another at Guelo for up to 16,000 people. "Asylum seekers are in bad condition, as they have been fleeing from renewed fighting, bombing and harassment of the civilian population by the RUF rebels in the Kono District," the spokesman said. "Three children and a pregnant woman died while waiting for authorisation to enter Guinea." After an influx of more than 2,500 refugees in early August, the Guinean authorities had been reluctant to allow more Sierra Leoneans to cross the border for fear of infiltration by the RUF. After discussions with the UNHCR, the Guineans agreed to allow vulnerable persons and the elderly to enter through three designated humanitarian corridors. The presence of former fighters has been reported among the asylum seekers, and the UNHCR believes several hundred may be among those waiting to cross. The agency has asked that they be separated from the civilian population. To avoid the legal selection process, about 1,000 persons attempted to cross the river at Bamba, several miles from the legal entry point, but failed because of high water. There are currently some 331,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in the Gueckedou and Forecariah prefectures of Guinea, including more than 10,000 who arrived since the peace process broke down in early May.

A Liberian judge has postponed until at least Wednesday a decision on whether to grant bail to four U.K.-based journalists arrested in Monrovia Friday night, saying he needed more time to study the applicable law. The four were charged with espionage in connection with a documentary on Africa they were filming for Britain's Channel Four television and CNN. One of those charged was Sierra Leonean Sorious Samura, who won multiple awards last year for his documentary "Cry Freetown." Two of the others are British nationals and one is South African. The judge, Timothy Z. Swope, said that under Liberian law espionage is a first degree felony, but he said he could use his discretion to grant bail if he were convinced the accused might not be found guilty of espionage. In London, British Foreign Office Minister of State for Africa Peter Hain (pictured left) called for the their immediate release. "They are not spies, they are journalists, and this is an attack on international press freedom," Hain told the BBC. "It brings the Liberian government into collision course not just with the United Nations, which it already is over sanctions busting and support for the rebel forces in Sierra Leone, but now also against the whole international climate, which favors press freedom...They should be released forthwith and the charges immediately withdrawn." Former South African President Nelson Mandela also appealed to Liberian President Charles Taylor Tuesday to release the journalists. Mandela told Taylor that even if the Liberia authorities had a watertight case, "it would be a wonderful gesture if he could pardon or release the four journalists," according to his spokeswoman. She said Taylor told Mandela he would need a couple days to consider the matter. Late Monday, however, Taylor said it would be wrong for him to interfere in the judicial process. "There is nothing going to happen to anyone in this country in violation of his or her rights under the laws of Liberia," he said. "You will be treated as human beings, fairly, with due process of law. But you will face the law."

A British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spokesman has denied Liberian claims that British weapons supplied to the Sierra Leone Army were finding their way into the hands of anti-government insurgents fighting in Lofa County. "The British government has been among the collaborating governments which have posed a direct threat to the security of Liberia by re-arming a non-restructured Sierra Leone Army and the Kamajors...which include special forces of Liberian dissidents in Sierra Leone," Taylor told West Africa magazine. The FCO spokesman dismissed the allegations. "The British government provided the government of Sierra Leone with weapons as part of a package of assistance to establish a new and democratically accountable armed forces," he told the Pan African News Agency (PANA). "This assistance is required to enable the government of Sierra Leone to defend its people against horrific rebel attacks. We hope the government of Liberia would share in that concern for a fellow democratically-elected government." He added President Kabbah had promised the British government that the weapons would be used only by the Sierra Leone Army. 

Army chiefs of staff from the nine countries contributing troops to UNAMSIL will discuss ways to make the mission more effective when they meet in New York on Wednesday, a U.N. spokesman said. UNAMSIL force commander Major-General Vijay Jetley and the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative in Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, are also expected to attend. The meeting will "provide an opportunity for the troop-contributing countries and the (U.N.) secretariat to exchange views on UNAMSIL's mandate and tasks, and any revised concept of operations," in line with a Security Council resolution which called on Secretary-General Kofi Annan to make recommendations on restructuring the force after consulting the troop contributors. "The meeting will also address the issues of equipment requirements in UNAMSIL, as well as identifying possible means of assistance in this area," he said. 

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) donated $250,000 Tuesday to help rebuild peace in Sierra Leone and to help victims and former combatants in the conflict, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Visiting OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim handed the donation over to President Kabbah. The money will go to the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace, to the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme, and to those who had limbs cut off by rebel fighters.

UNAMSIL's civilian police chief, Maaritz Dutoit, met Monday with Vice President Albert Joe Demby to discuss the release of detained RUF combatants, a U.N. spokesman said in New York on Monday. Demby said the government was planning to free 187 RUF members from custody. A government press release issued on Monday indicated President Kabbah was planning to release 171 RUF members held under Sierra Leone's emergency regulations. "So far today, the screening process is still going on for the RUF prisoners who are to be released," the spokesman said.

Britain will send a third army short-term training team to Sierra Leone in mid-September, British Defence Minister John Spellar said on Monday. The new soldiers will replace some 300 troops from the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, who themselves replaced a similar number of troops from the Royal Anglian Regiment in July. By the end of the third team's course, over 3,000 soldiers will have completed the training programme, a Ministry of Defence statement said.

21 August: The RUF has named General Issa Sesay to replace Foday Sankoh as leader of the rebel movement, the Sierra Leone government said on Monday. According to the statement, Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo and Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare arrived in Freetown Monday with a letter from the RUF's High Command informing the government of what they said was their unanimous decision. The statement said President Konare, who is the current ECOWAS chairman, President Kabbah and President Obasanjo met with Sankoh in Freetown Monday to acquaint him with the changes in the RUF movement. "Sankoh handed the two visiting presidents a reply for the RUF indicating his understanding and full agreement with the proposal of the RUF High Command," the government statement said. Kabbah also agreed to release 171 RUF members detained under the country's emergency regulations, including 156 held in Freetown, 11 in Bo and four in Makeni. Issa Sesay is reportedly from Makeni and, according to one account, is about 34 years old. In an interview last year with the New African, Sankoh said he had recruited Sesay and former RUF field commander Sam "Mosquito" Bockarie from among young expatriate Sierra Leoneans in Liberia and Ivory Coast who had been unable to make a living in their own country. "You see, people like Sam Bockarie and Issa I rescued from the slums in Cote d'Ivoire," Sankoh said. "People say they are Liberians; but take it from me, they are not!" Sesay was promoted to battlefield commander after Bockarie publicly split from Sankoh in December last year.

UNAMSIL said Friday's RUF attack on Kabala came a day after the World Food Programme and other agencies delivered food aid to the town, using U.N. helicopters. The attack was repulsed by pro-government forces. UNAMSIL said the situation was now calm, and said it was believed the attackers were seeking food and ammunition.

The Kono Donso militia, backed by the Kamajors, has captured a number of towns in Kono District following fighting between the CDF and RUF forces, according to the official Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA). There was no independent confirmation of the claim, which was attributed to "sources...in Kenema." According to SLENA, the CDF has captured the town of Jaiama Sewafe and the nearby villages of Gold Town, Mambudu (Mambudu Checkpoint), and Njagbwema Nimikoro. SLENA said the CDF was in control of the Sewa Bridge on the highway linking the RUF strongholds of Koidu and Makeni.

Defence chiefs of troop-contributing countries for UNAMSIL will hold a meeting in New York on August 16, a U.N. spokesman said on Monday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed "outrage" Monday over the arrest on Friday of four journalists in Liberia. Government officials accused the four, including award-winning Sierra Leonean filmmaker Sorious Samura (left), of espionage. "We urge you to drop this absurd charge and release the journalists immediately," the CPJ wrote in a letter to Liberian President Charles Taylor. "We also demand that Liberian police return the equipment and videotapes that they apparently seized from the journalists' hotel rooms prior to their arrest, in flagrant violation of their right to report the news, as well as your own government's written permit allowing them to report in Liberia." The four were reportedly charged in court Monday without their lawyers present. Britain's Channel Four television network, which contracted the journalists to film a three-part documentary and had provided eight lawyers to represent them, said Monday night it was "concerned and disappointed" at the indictments. "We understand the charges — of espionage and criminal design — were brought in court without legal representation for the men," it said. "Lawyers appointed by Channel Four to represent the four men were not informed that the indictment was taking place." The four were charged with entering Liberia with "criminal design" and carrying out "interviews and filming in sensitive areas of the republic." The four were remanded to Monrovia's Central Prison. Meanwhile, former South African President Nelson Mandela added his voice to calls for the journalists' release. Mandela's spokesman said he tried to contact Taylor on Monday, but was unable to reach him because the Liberian leader was meeting with the presidents of Nigeria and Mali over the peace process in sierra Leone. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (Reporters without Borders) also protested the arrests Monday in a letter to Liberian Justice Minister Eddington Varmah.

20 August: Sierra Leone defeated Togo 2-0 Sunday in their preliminary round African Nations Cup qualifying match. The Leone Stars' defence held Togo to only a few shots on goal at Freetown's National Stadium, while the offence dominated but missed several chances to convert. Scoring for Sierra Leone were Ibrahim Bah in the 33rd minute, and Abu Kanu in the 51st. The first-leg match had originally been scheduled for July, but was postponed at the last minute when the Togolese team refused to travel to Freetown, citing security concerns. The return leg will be played in Lomé on September 3. 

Army troops repelled a rebel attack on Kabala, military sources in Freetown told Reuters on Sunday. The sources said four soldiers and two civilians were killed in the attack, along with ten RUF fighters. There has been no independent confirmation of the account. The sources also confirmed reports of fighting in Kono District over the past four days, but declined to give details. Reuters quoted civilians who fled Kono to Freetown as saying a government helicopter gunship had bombarded the area.

An RUF commander identifying himself as Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel [L. Jama] has denied a claim by the Kamajor militia to have captured Jaiama Sewafe and the nearby village of Gold Town in Kono District. [Jama] told the BBC the Kamajors had attacked RUF positions in the two towns, but said they had been repelled with heavy casualties. "I left from there only last night, travelled to Makeni to inform the world" that the reports were false, he said. "We never lost these towns. (The Kamajors tried to capture them) but they were repelled immediately, and the two areas are right now under the control of the RUF." [Jama] also dismissed a Kamajor claim that the militia had captured 22 RUF fighters who were preparing to counter-attack, including an RUF commander called Tamba Bockarie, also known as "Tamba Fanta." "No, that is false. It is not to our knowledge at all," he said. "We do not even have such a man in our deployment areas at Sewafe and Gold Town." The RUF commander also denied reports that the rebels had launched an attack on Kabala. "The north is still under our control. Our previous areas that we are control, they are still under our control," he said, adding: "We are not attacking Kabala." 

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare, the current ECOWAS chairman, were due to arrive in Sierra Leone on Sunday, according to state radio. The two are expected to proceed on to neighbouring countries for discussions with Liberian President Charles Taylor and Guinean President Lansana Conte before returning to Freetown on Monday to brief President Kabbah on the result of the talks. Kabbah held talks Wednesday with Obasanjo and Konare in Abuja, which reportedly centered on efforts by the RUF to choose a new leader to replace Foday Sankoh, who has been imprisoned since mid-May. A diplomatic source told the Sierra Leone Web Sunday that Monday's visit to Freetown "is connected to the RUF leadership issue." He said the government was expected to release a press release on the the subject on Monday, but added there were indications the issue was "not as tacked down as thought" as of Friday.

Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it would enforce a ban on Sierra Leonean rough diamonds, in accordance with a U.N. global ban. A statement by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Trade said the ban would cover all diamonds not accompanied by a certificate of origin issued by the Sierra Leonean government.

Rev. Jesse Jackson said Sunday he had appealed to Liberian President Charles Taylor to release four journalists arrested in Monrovia Friday night and accused of spying. Jackson, who serves as President Clinton's Special Envoy for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa, said he tried unsuccessfully to reach Taylor on Saturday, but that the Liberian president telephoned him on Sunday. "I urged him to consider using his powers to free them," Jackson said. "I said that their detention would only further isolate Liberia and escalate calls for sanctions."  Taylor promised to consider Jackson's appeal, but told him the journalists were expected to face a magistrate on Monday. Liberian Justice Minister Eddington Varmah alleged Saturday that the four, including Sierra Leonean Sorious Samura, had been trying to manufacture evidence linking the Liberian government to diamond smuggling, gun running, support for Sierra Leone's RUF rebels, and human rights abuses. Jackson, in an earlier CNN television interview, said a free press was essential to the integrity and credibility of a democracy. "I hope these charges will be dropped because nobody in the world community believes these journalists were there as spies," Jackson said. "Their detention will only contribute to isolating Liberia, inviting more pressure on the poor and escalating calls for sanctions." Liberia's Deputy Information Minister, Milton Teahjay, quoted Taylor as telling Jackson he could not intervene to release the journalists until their cases had been processed through the courts. "If the process of going through the courts has been exhausted, then it comes to the point where his intervention will become necessary, then he will do that," Teahjay told the BBC. Teahjay said the group had received accreditation from the Ministry of Information, but that they had not been given permission to film. "And without waiting for such an approval to be granted, they went around and started interviewing security forces," he said. He accused the journalists of entering Liberia with "pre-manufactured evidence" to validate U.S. and British allegations of Liberian involvement in diamond smuggling and gun-running, and suggested they were spying for the two countries. "In the process of searching we discovered documents, their scripts, both the instructions from the State Department and perhaps what appears to be the British Foreign Office, and the answers to those scripts affirming and confirming that Liberia was involved in diamond smuggling and gun-running," he said. "That is typical espionage." Meanwhile, staff from Britain's Channel Four television have flown to Liberia to negotiate for the journalists' release. "The best we can hope is that they get deported, the worst is that they get charged," said Channel Four television spokesman Matt Baker. The four journalists were involved in filming a three-part documentary for Channel Four and CNN.

19 August: Liberian police have arrested four journalists, including Sierra Leonean Sorious Samura (pictured left), who in his 1999 documentary "Cry Freetown" filmed atrocities committed by both sides during January's rebel attack on Freetown. The four work for Insight News Television, which was commissioned by Britain's Channel Four television network and CNN to produce a three-part documentary series called "Sorious Samura's Africa." According to BBC Monrovia correspondent Jonathan Paye-Layleh, the arrests were led personally by Police Director Paul Mulbah. "Mr. Mulbah said he obtained a warrant for the arrests after a search of the journalists’ hotel rooms, where he said police had found documents which had raised eyebrows," Paye-Layleh said. "The Liberian authorities are now viewing tapes and other material collected by the journalists over the past three weeks that they’ve been in Liberia." Liberian Justice Minister Eddington Varmah said Saturday the four had "engaged in acts against the security of the state" and were arrested "on suspicion of espionage against the Republic of Liberia." He accused the film crew of trying to manufacture evidence against the Liberian government, which has been accused by Britain and the United States of supporting Sierra Leone's RUF rebels by smuggling illicit diamonds and arms trafficking. Varmah said Liberian investigators had both written and physical evidence against the journalists which would be presented in court. "The police discovered damaging instruments against the interest of the Liberian state...designed to provide false and malicious information to foreign powers," he said. "The intent of this clandestine activity is apparently designed to injure not only the image and character of the president of Liberia, but also disrupt the economic, social and political fabric of Liberia by providing assistance to foreign powers in their ongoing diplomatic confrontation with Liberia." Varmah said the film crew's activities were linked to "allegations of diamond smuggling, gun running, support to the RUF and human rights abuses" against Liberia. According to Paye-Layleh, Mulbah said the journalists would be charged within 48 hours as required by Liberian law. "The four arrived in Liberia on August 1 and went through the formal accreditation procedures at the Ministry of Information. But it appears they’re fallen foul of a clause in their accreditation letters which prevents them from filming in what the ministry calls 'strategic places'," Paye-Layleh said. Channel Four spokesman Matt Baker insisted the four were innocent. "The tapes that have been confiscated, when they are viewed, will prove they are on legitimate journalistic business in the country," he told Reuters. "There is no basis for any accusation of espionage." Those arrested with Samura were identified as Britons David Barrie and Timothy Lambon, and South African Gugulakhe Radebe.

Liberian Finance Minister Nathaniel Barnes denied Saturday the Liberian government had received any revenues from smuggled Sierra Leonean diamonds. "I have not seen one penny from any revenue from the purported sale of diamonds," he told the BBC. "Look, Liberia has had diamonds. Historically Liberia has always had diamonds. We have a very, very difficult time implementing an effective monitoring and control process for diamonds. It’s a very portable product, it can be very easily concealed, and we have a very difficult time because we lack the capacity to monitor and manage of control of diamonds within our own borders. I mean officially I don’t know of any revenue that we’ve gotten from this."

18 August: Some 254 SLA ex-combatants were airlifted Thursday from the Daru DDR camp in eastern Sierra Leone to Kenema after successful screening by UNAMSIL to join the restructured Sierra Leone Army, UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu said on Friday. She said they would eventually be sent to Benguema Training Camp for military training. Befecadu told reporters UNAMSIL helicopters had assisted Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in transporting humanitarian assistance consisting of food and medicines to Kabala residents. In Kenema, she said, UNAMSIL had opened a Level II hospital staffed by Jordanian peacekeepers. "We have unconfirmed reports that Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia might be returning to Sierra Leone," Befecadu said. "Humanitarian assistance is being consolidated for such an event and UNAMSIL and other agencies are working on the process."

The Kamajor militia's National Director of War, Moinina Fofana, claimed Friday that the Kamajors had captured the towns of Jaiama Sewafe and Gold Town in Kono District, 30 miles west of Koidu. According to BBC Bo correspondent Prince Brima, Fofana said the pro-government militia had killed eleven RUF fighters in a two-day battle, and wounded several others. He said 22 more had been captured. There was no independent verification of the account, and no figures on Kamajor casualties were provided. "The captured men, including the dreaded commander Tamba Bockarie, alias 'Tamba Fanta', were handed over by the Kamajors to a Ghanaian UNAMSIL battalion in Kenema," Brima said. "According to Fofana, the men were seized as they headed to counter-attack Jaiama Sewafe from Kailahun and Tongo." A conflicting account was given by UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu, who told reporters in Freetown that 22 RUF fighters, including one child combatant, "presented themselves to the Civil Defence Forces" in the Kenema area and handed over 16 weapons, including AK-47s and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). She said the RUF fighters had been handed over to the UNAMSIL Military Observers Centre in Kenema.

Britain formally requested Thursday that the United Nations Security Council discuss the "role of diamonds in fuelling conflict" when it meets on September 5, Reuters reported on Friday. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, British Deputy Permanent U.N. Representative Stewart Eldon asked that the issue be added to the session's agenda. In a memorandum accompanying the letter, Eldon noted that in a number of conflicts "rebel forces have gained access to local diamond mines and illicitly exported diamonds to help finance arms purchases and other activities." He pointed out that the diamond industry "has called for each rough diamond importing country to prohibit the import of rough diamonds unless they have been certified by an accredited authority in the exporting country," adding: "The worries of consumers about the origin of diamonds have a potential impact on the legitimate trade. The issue should therefore be addressed by the General Assembly with a view to taking appropriate action to deal with this problem."

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will lead an inter-agency assessment food-needs assessment mission to Bumbuna August 18-20 following reports of a deteriorating humanitarian situation and the arrival of 7,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the town, the WFP said on Friday. "Food security situation in the entire northern area is presumed to be critical, but only Bumbuna and Kabala are currently accessible, and even these only by air," the WFP said, adding that the agency was advocating resumption of dialogue on humanitarian access between the warring parties. At Daru, NGOs screened some 600 children under age five after the WFP received conflicting reports about the nutritional status of residents and IDPs in the town. "Although the reports are still awaited, there are indications that the level of malnutrition might not be too serious," the WFP report said, adding that the reopening of the Kenema - Daru road several days before the assessment had led to increased availability of food at significantly reduced prices. On August 8, the WFP verified a count of 19,981 IDPs at the Port Loko IDP camp and in surrounding buildings. The WFP and CARE are currently conducting a registration exercise at Mile 91, covering both the resident and IDP populations. The WFP is currently assisting 38,189 IDPs in 28 rural villages on the Mile 91 - Masiaka - Moyamba - Bo and Magburaka axis. The WFP is simultaneously conducting a sensitisation campaign in Kaffu Bullom and Lokomasama Chiefdoms to mobilise community initiatives for food-for-work and agricultural recovery projects. A similar exercise is planned for Pepel and Tasso Islands later in August. A UNHCR mission to Kenema confirmed that 1,400 returned refugees in IDP camps were in need of assistance. "Refugees are increasingly returning to Sierra Leone on their own, due to insecurity in Liberia," the WFP said. "Relief agencies are discussing a strategy to address the spontaneous repatriation." In the past week, the WFP distributed 752 tons of food aid to 42,352 beneficiaries in Sierra Leone. As of August 14, available food stocks totaled 8,397 tons, including 3,406 tons of cereals.

Exchange rates for the leone against the U.S. dollar and pound sterling, posted in Freetown on Friday: [Buying / Selling] Standard Bank: [$] 1900 / 2450. [£] 2850 / 3450.  Frandia: [$] 2250 / 2450  [£] 3000 / 3500; Continental: [$] 2250 / 2450  [£] 3100 / 3500; Sierra Forex: [$] 2250 / 2450  [£] 3200 / 3500.

17 August: A battalion of Indian UNAMSIL troops were deployed Thursday at Mile 91, where humanitarian workers are continuing efforts to accommodate and feed some 35,000 internally displaced persons from northern Sierra Leone, the Deputy Spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, told reporters. "Prior to the Indians' arrival, Nigerian and Guinean troops had also tried to provide protection for the large numbers of internally displaced, given the threat posed by the movements of Revolutionary United Front rebels and bandits in the vicinity," he said.

Gibril Massaquoi, the former Special Assistant to imprisoned RUF leader Foday Sankoh, accused the Kamajor militia Thursday of killing 46 suspected RUF members and of commandeering ten vehicles in Kenema four days ago. "All these civilians were alleged to be supporters of the RUF. They were not armed; these are civilians. They are out of the political wing of the RUF," Massaquoi (pictured right) told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. There has been no independent confirmation of his claim, which was denied late Thursday by Information Minister Dr. Julius Spencer. "The claim is false," Spencer told the Sierra Leone Web. A high-level delegation led by Vice President Albert Joe Demby visited southern and eastern Sierra Leone last week to investigate complaints against the militia, and on Monday warned Kamajors in Kenema to desist from acts of lawlessness. On Wednesday, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, the Deputy Spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, said U.N. human rights workers who visited Bo had reported on Tuesday that civilians suspected of having links to the RUF had been harassed by the CDF. Massaquoi also alleged Thursday that RUF members disarmed under the DDR programme  "have been taken away from their camps and treated as prisoners of war, detained at Pademba Road, whilst others have their ears cut off." Massaquoi's allegations were dismissed by Dr. Francis Kai-Kai (left), Executive Secretary of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR). "I know Gibril knows very well how the NCDDR has been doing its best to ensure ex-combatants get a fair chance to [relive] back in society here in Sierra Leone again," Kai-Kai said. He also rejected Massaquoi's claim that RUF ex-combatants were being imprisoned. "What we have tried to do is make sure that we bring together all the ex-combatants who cannot make it to areas especially occupied by the RUF, since they are afraid of going back to those areas occupied by their own compatriots," he said. "And these are now in Lungi and in Port Loko, and we are trying to do everything possible with reintegration programmes in those areas whilst we wait for the RUF to come on board again."

One Guinean UNAMSIL soldier is dead and another was injured in a traffic accident at Moyamba on Tuesday, a U.N. spokesman said. The two were evacuated to Conakry on Wednesday, where one of the soldiers died. The other's condition was not disclosed. 

Nigeria has sent eight officers and, by varying accounts, 42 or 51 enlisted men to Egypt for treatment of wounds they suffered while serving with the ECOMOG force in Sierra Leone. Director of Army Public Relations Colonel Felix Chukwuma said the soldiers, who were suffering from various disabilities which could not be treated in Nigerian hospitals, left aboard an Egypt Air flight on Monday. The plight of the wounded former ECOMOG troops was highlighted in July by Nigeria's Post Express newspaper, which said over 100 soldiers in the ECOMOG Ward at the Nigerian Army Base Hospital at Yaba were threatening to burn the hospital, and themselves with it, unless they received treatment for their wounds. Chukwuma told the Post Express that a lack of funds was preventing the government from sending its injured soldiers abroad for treatment. The BBC quoted Chukwuma as saying Thursday the soldiers who left this week were the first batch to be sent for treatment in eight months, adding that others would leave for Egypt soon. The last ECOMOG troops left Sierra Leone at the beginning of May.

A day after the Guinean government agreed to help stem the flow of illicit Sierra Leonean diamonds through their country, Sierra Leone's Minister of Mineral Resources Mohamed Swarry Deen said it was difficult to determine the volume of illegal diamonds being smuggled through Guinea. With the United Nations focusing on Liberia, he told Radio France International on Thursday, "one would expect that people would then try to deviate from Liberia, and the only other point likely for them to turn is Guinea. So whatever volume had been going through Liberia is likely either the same or slightly less through Guinea." Deen acknowledged it was difficult to determine how many diamonds were being produced by the RUF. "Diamonds are mined in areas that are not controlled by government, and the routes that they are taking is not really controlled by government, so really we only know by the amount of weapons they carry and the evidence that we have got from their leader (Foday Sankoh) recently when he was arrested," he said. The minister stressed the government's "main aim" was to reassert its authority over the diamond mining areas. "Once government takes control over the main diamond-producing areas, Kono and Tongo, gets rid of the rebels in these areas, and again at the same time stops the whole conflict in the country, then when there is no conflict there will be no conflict diamonds," he said.

16 August: President Kabbah and Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare, the current chairman of ECOWAS, travelled together to Abuja on Tuesday for talks with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Radio France International reported. A diplomatic source told the Sierra Leone Web the talks would center on efforts by the RUF to select a new leader to replace Foday Sankoh, who has been imprisoned since May. The source was unable to verify local press reports that RUF field commander General Issa Sesay had been chosen to replace Sankoh. "Issa's name has come up several times and was mentioned in the letter the RUF sent Konare, but according to people that talk to the RUF the letter confirmed that he was the military commander only," he said.

Liberia has turned up its war of words with the United States and Britain, accusing the two countries of supporting anti-government insurgents in Liberia's Lofa County, and alleging the United States was involved in a plot to assassinate Liberian President Charles Taylor. The charges first appeared Saturday in a pro-government newspaper, the Patriot, and were subsequently broadcast over KISS-FM, a radio station personally owned by Taylor. The United States and Britain have accused the Liberian government of diamond smuggling and gun-running in support of Sierra Leone's RUF rebels — charges which have brought an angry reaction from Liberian officials. According to the Voice of America, the KISS-FM story was attributed to an unnamed senior Liberian government official, and alleged the United States had brought people into Liberia, including American citizens, to kill Taylor. These persons were posing as missionaries and embassy officials, the radio claimed, adding that the United States had made two million dollars available to carry out the plot. The allegations were rejected by U.S. Ambassador Bismarck Myrick. "The allegations attributed to 'reliable sources' in the Patriot newspaper edition of Saturday, August 12, 2000 and broadcast on the Liberia communications network are completely false and baseless," Myrick said in a statement released on Monday. Meanwhile, U.S. State Department acting spokesman Philip Reeker warned again Tuesday that Liberia would face sanctions if it "failed to cease the activities that are fueling the conflict in Sierra Leone." Reeker noted statements by the governments of Liberia and Burkina Faso that they would cooperate with investigations into diamond smuggling and illegal arms sales, but said the U.S. was looking for action and results. "There is continuing strong evidence that Liberia has been the primary patron of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone," Reeker told reporters. "We have urged the Liberian Government to take steps to end support for the RUF and to stop the illicit diamond trade immediately. We haven't seen anything to suggest that the illegal trade in diamonds and arms in support of the RUF has ceased...We're looking for a concrete change in policy from both of those governments, in fact, and feel strongly...that they need to make a genuine commitment to regional peace and then act accordingly. And we're going to obviously know when they have done so."

Fatou Mbaye Sankoh, the wife of imprisoned RUF leader Foday Sankoh, expressed concern Wednesday that a proposed court to try those guilty of serious offences under Sierra Leonean and international law would not be just. "One (concern) is the dominant role Sierra Leonean authorities would play in this process, because as we know, they will never be fair," she told the BBC's Newshour programme. "And the second one is the setting up of the court just to try Foday Sankoh and the RUF leadership." Sankoh accused the Sierra Leone government of pursuing "an agenda against" the RUF. "I read a lot of declarations from the authorities saying that Foday Sankoh is a principal perpetrator of atrocities in Sierra Leone," she said. "The only thing they (are) concerned about right now is trying Foday Sankoh....I know that Sierra Leone government, pro-government press and media, demonize my husband. They keep demonizing this man over and over...The whole world thinks that my husband is not a human being." Fatou Sankoh said that the RUF would be prepared to present evidence showing who was responsible for committing atrocities in Sierra Leone. "The RUF, they are not fighting to kill, to rape," she said. "They’re not the ones bringing the killings and the rape. We have factions, and they all have blood in their hands." She expressed regret over the plight of atrocity victims in Sierra Leone. "I’m very sorry about that. This is very sad," she said. "And we will see, as I have said. We will come with clear and convincing evidence that it’s not only member of RUF. We have the evidence here. That’s very sad to see that." When asked whether she thought her husband bore any responsibility for atrocities in Sierra Leone, Fatou Sankoh was more cautious: "No one is above the law," she said. "And right now, my thinking is let’s come up with evidence that my husband has done this. I’m not saying he did not do it. But let’s wait for the evidence."

UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu said Wednesday it was a "misunderstanding" when it was announced that Deputy Force Commander Brigadier-General had been deputised by Major-General Vijay Jetley during his brief absence. Befecadu told reporters in Freetown that a Pre-Discharge Orientation Course for 40 ex-combatants had started in Lungi, and would run through August 18. She added that 35 police officers at Moyamba had been selected for further training in Hastings by UNAMSIL Civilian Police (CIVPOL).

Guinea has agreed to help Sierra Leone combat the illicit trade in diamonds by RUF rebels, Mineral Resources Minister Mohamed Swarry Deen told Reuters on Wednesday. Guinea has agreed to confiscate any diamonds not certified by the Sierra Leone government, and could prosecute traders who handle them. Richard Holbrooke, the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee on Sierra Leone last month that 40 percent of illicit Sierra Leonean diamonds were being smuggled through Guinea. The agreement between the two countries came after talks in Conakry on Tuesday between delegations headed by Deen and his Guinean counterpart, Ibrahima Soumah. "It appears as if Guinea realises that, apart from Liberia, whose connection to the rebels vis-a-vis the smuggling of Sierra Leone's diamonds is well known, their country is the other port for the smuggling of our diamonds," Deen said. A joint monitoring committee of Sierra Leonean and Guinean officials will be set up to monitor the movement of diamonds in the border area and in the part of Conakry where diamond dealers are based.

UNAMSIL peacekeepers from Bangladesh rescued 50 persons travelling from Guinea to Freetown by boat Tuesday after their craft was damaged in a storm, UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hiurt Befecadu said on Wednesday. "All 50 passengers and their goods were rescued by our Bangladeshi patrol boat," she said.

Amid reports of a buildup of troops along the Sierra Leone - Liberia border, BBC presenter Robin White found the area calm last week when he visited the area on both sides of the Mano River Bridge, which links the two countries. The local Liberian commander at Bo Waterside told White there had been no trouble in the area since he took over command, and he said he had experienced no problems with the Kamajor militia, which controls the Sierra Leonean side of the border. "The working relationship is cordial," he said. "We will walk there. You will meet them. There is no problem. They come to us, we go to them. We talk." A Kamajor militiaman on the Sierra Leone side of the border confirmed that their relationship with the Liberians was currently "cool and calm," but he informed White that four Kamajors had been wounded some days previously when Liberian troops began firing across the border. "But we went there to tell them that we don’t want no war in this country no more," he said. The local Sierra Leonean police commander said he could not confirm the incident. "Here, the downside of the river on our own side, there’s no problem like that for now," he said. He described the relationship between the Sierra Leoneans and their Liberian counterparts, including immigration, police and the military, as "very cordial." He added that the police and the Kamajors maintained a close working relationship. "We interact, in fact most of the things we discuss commonly so that we will know how to tackle (them) in case of any future problem," he said. "We adjust ourselves before that." White said he later discovered the shooting incident referred to by the Kamajor was "a little row over payment for drugs — nothing too serious."

15 August: Sierra Leone's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ibrahim Kamara, has said a proposed mixed Sierra Leonean and international court should be located in Sierra Leone. "The security situation in Sierra Leone has tremendously improved, and I believe it’s only but proper the court should sit in Sierra Leone," Kamara told the BBC's Network Africa programme. Kamara stressed that an amnesty granted by last year's Lomé Peace Accord did not apply to crimes prosecuted under international law. "In the first instance, the United Nations Security Council entered reservation on the Lomé Accord," Kamara said. "They never agreed to the blanket amnesty given to the people who have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes, and crimes of a genocidal nature." The ambassador denied that the tribunal was specifically targeting the RUF. "The resolution makes it quite clear it’s for persons, and it’s quite open," he said. "It’s quite broad." He also denied that the government intended to pursue a vendetta against rebel leaders. "If you are brought to court and there are proofs that you have committed such crimes, then you’ll be facing an international court — not a court of only Sierra Leonean judges, but a court of eminent judges from the diaspora," he said. Kamara insisted there was still room for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as called for in the peace agreement. "If you look at the resolution itself, there is a provision for the TRC," he said. "There are certain crimes that will be taken over to the TRC and certain crimes that will come to this court. And what government has done is only answer to the call of the people and to the call of the international community for truth and justice, for peace and justice."

Liberian President Charles Taylor has again denied charges he was providing arms to Sierra Leone's RUF rebels. In a taped interview with BBC presenter Robin White broadcast on Tuesday, Taylor dismissed claims by the United States and Britain that they had evidence and eyewitness accounts linking him to the rebel group. "There is a satellite over Liberia every 48 minutes. We are aware of that," Taylor said. "You want to tell me they don’t have — the United States can take a picture of a matchstick, or even a safety pin — they don’t have any evidence of anything? I mean, why would now all of a sudden it is an eyewitness? That's not true." Taylor argued that the United States and Britain had been given sufficient time to produce evidence of Liberian complicity in gun-running, and they had failed to do so. "Isn’t it practical for the great United States to confront this little country with evidence that everyone will say ‘yes you are wrong'?" he asked. "They don’t have it because it does not exist...How did the RUF get tanks? Almost 20 of them? How did they get them? What, they flew them through there? How did they get tanks? How did they get heavy artillery?" Taylor denied he had control over the RUF, and said he had used his knowledge of the rebel movement constructively, as in negotiating the release of over 500 U.N. peacekeepers abducted by the RUF in May. "We reasoned with them that it was in the best interests of peace to release them. We did not instruct them," he said. Taylor said he was not in telephone contact with the RUF leadership. "I wouldn’t do that," he said. "If this were true, the British and Americans would have my voice on tape. We know they listen to every bit of telephone conversation...I have people that talk to them through radio. And mind you, that frequency is known by all military groups in this sub-region, including the United Nations, the British warships that are offshore, the American intelligence. They all, if they had it, they would bring it forward."

RUF leader Foday Sankoh will be tried before a tribunal to be set up jointly by Sierra Leone and the United Nations, Justice Minister and Attorney-General Solomon Berewa told Reuters on Tuesday. Despite a provision of the United Nations Security Council resolution authorising the court which gives it jurisdiction over crimes committed prior to the Lomé Peace Accord, Berewa said those who had adhered to the agreement and had pursued peace since its signing would still benefit from its amnesty provision. "Those who have not will face trial," he said. Berewa said the court, which will include both Sierra Leonean and international judges and prosecutors, will have its "primary seat" in Sierra Leone. "The court can be removed out of Sierra Leone only in the unlikely event that the security situation becomes worse. Then another venue will be found for the sitting," he said. Asked whether former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma could be tried by the court, Berewa responded: "RUF leader Corporal Foday Sankoh has been the principal perpetrator of atrocities in Sierra Leone since 1991 to today, therefore he is definitely going to be tried. In the case of Lieutenant-Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma, there are a number of issues raised." Following the signing of the Lomé Peace Accord, Koroma joined the government as chairman of the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace. Berewa said he hoped the court would advance the peace process by sending a message to rebels still holding out. ""With that at the back of their mind, they should see it in their own interest to give up their arms and try to join the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) process," he said.

Gibril Massaquoi, the former Special Assistant to detained RUF leader Foday Sankoh, told the BBC Tuesday that the rebel group had no objection to an international tribunal as long as it was objective and not biased against them. "If the international community can make the trial free and fair, and not being politicized in favour of the current government because of (President) Tejan Kabbah being a former worker of the U.N. and a friend of the U.N. secretary-general, then the RUF believes the call for such trial will be justifiable," Massaquoi said from Makeni. He stressed that the RUF was concerned about plans for the court to sit in Freetown. "We know what the government in Freetown is capable of doing," he said. "You cannot imagine somebody may go to an amputee and tell him 'Now look, you just say it’s just Mr. Joe that’s cut your hands off in the RUF.' It can happen. But what we are saying is that we believe as long as the victim is not being spoon-fed by the government, and that he can identify a particular person that committed the atrocity against him, we have no case about that." Massaquoi said the RUF believed the court should operate in a third country. "Most courts in Sierra Leone are not free and fair," he said. "So we are appealing to international community, if they want to get the true story, let it be done out of Sierra Leone." Massaquoi insisted the RUF was not alone in violating the terms of the Lomé Peace Accord. "It is unfortunate that those (the) Security Council sent never reached the RUF to get their own side of story, and have taken decisions based on what the government in Freetown has told them," he said. "After the signing of the Lomé Accord, almost all parties have violated that agreement, ranging from using helicopter gunship, killing innocent civilians, blocking the highways, raping market women on the Okra Hill highway. All horrible things have been going on." In a separate interview with Radio France International on Tuesday, Massaquoi said the RUF feared the tribunal was "a witch hunt against them," and called for all those guilty of crimes to be brought before the court. "Since 1991, all parties have been committing atrocities, even those that are the cause of the rebel war," he said. "We believe that people are making a lot of propaganda against the RUF, that we have been the sole committers of crimes in Sierra Leone." Massaquoi said the RUF did not oppose the formation of the court, but added: "We have made our position clear to the ECOWAS head of state that it will derail the peace process. But notwithstanding that, the people are yearning for peace. And we must be committed to the peace process, with or without Foday Sankoh."

A high-level government delegation led by Vice President Albert Joe Demby warned thousands of members of the pro-government Kamajor militia in Kenema Monday to desist from acts of lawlessness and to work for peace and stability in the region, BBC Bo correspondent Prince Brima reported on Tuesday. "The remarks by Vice President Demby follow persistent complaints of alleged harassment, atrocities and general lawlessness by the Kamajors against the populace in towns and villages in southern and eastern Sierra Leone within the past month," Brima said. "This fresh wave of violence, including armed robbery in the region, has created panic among the people." Demby, along with Deputy Defence Minister and National CDF Coordinator Sam Hinga Norman and Security and Safety Minister Charles Margai, visited southern and eastern Sierra Leone to investigate a spate of recent complaints against the militia. Norman warned that "the Civil Defence Forces are not an organisation for sheltering criminals, adding that anyone caught involved in any criminal activity will face the full force of the law," Brima said. 

14 August: The United Nations Security Council agreed unanimously Monday to a resolution supporting the creation of a special tribunal to try "persons who bear the greatest responsibility" for seriou