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afrol.com, 13 October - The UN Security Council delegation visiting Sierra Leone and its neighbours during the last days in a bid to promote stability in the region, said yesterday it would return to New York with a "renewed, two-fold commitment" to the Sierra Leonean people in rebuilding their future, and to United Nations peacekeeping. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, who is leading the 11-member Security Council delegation as it touring West Africa, told reporters in Freetown that the team had been impressed by the peacekeeping and peace-building work carried out by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). The delegation yesterday left Sierra Leone, continuing to Conakry (Guinea). "The Security Council has some important decisions coming up on the future shape, mandate and structure of UNAMSIL, and our determination to make this operation as effective, capable and robust as possible has been reinforced by this visit," Ambassador Greenstock said, noting that the Mission had been through a "traumatic period of pressures and challenges this year." The complex problems facing Sierra Leone, which Security Council members witnessed firsthand over the course of their 72-hour visit to the country, could only be addressed through a comprehensive strategy supported by long-term international assistance, Ambassador Greenstock stressed. "We would like to see Sierra Leoneans, under their Government, increasingly taking the lead in stabilizing and regenerating their country," he stated, adding that outside support should "galvanize" leadership towards this end. On Wednesday, the delegation heared the pleas from a former child soldier that children be not prosecuted by a proposed special court to try war crimes in the country. Visiting a camp that houses hundreds of young ex-combatants, 14-year-old Al Haj Baba Sewane made a "simple and direct plea" to the Council members to exclude children from prosecution by the proposed court. The teenager, who arrived at the camp nine months ago after spending three years in northern Sierra Leone, said, "We have been forcibly involved in a war we benefited nothing from." He added that the children were "pleading as victims that you please involve us in the peace process, and absolutely exclude us from the proposed special court." Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock "swiftly responded to the boy's appeal, saying that no child regarded as a victim of the war, even if he had been fighting, would be taken to the proposed special court," according to a UN spokesman. Regarding the special war crimes court for Sierra Leone, which is currently under discussion in the Council, Ambassador Greenstock yesterday repeated that "only those bearing the greatest responsibility for the crimes perpetrated should be indicted." He expressed confidence that the special court's justice "can work hand in hand with the reconciliation process." Ambassador Greenstock also emphasized that the situation in Sierra Leone was a regional crisis "both in terms of its causes and effects, but also in terms of its solutions." During its stay in Sierra Leone, the UN delegation has met with UN Agencies, international NGOs, other institutions and representant from the Sierra Leonean civil society. Asked whether the delegation was willing to meet with RUF terrorists, Greenstock already on arrival "ruled out a meeting with RUF leaders and said that the mission is not here to negotiate." In exploring ways to promote regional security, the Council members will continue their five-nation tour of West Africa with a stop in Conakry, Guinea, where they are scheduled to meet President Lansana Conteh. After that, they are expected to fly to Bamako, Mali, to meet with President Oumar Alpha Conaré, the head of the Economic Community of West African States. Sources: Based on UN sources
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