afrol News, 2 December - The German Embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone, yesterday was reopened after the peace and reconciliation process has taken root in the country. The German government wanted to demonstrate "an intensified cooperation" with Sierra Leone.

The Berlin Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced it yesterday had reopened the German Embassy in Sierra Leone. The reasons given were the peaceful situation in Freetown and the increased German engagement in Sierra Leone.

- With the reopening of the Embassy, the [German] federal government gives a clear signal that it also in future will support the peace process in the West African country and further intensify its cooperation with Sierra Leone, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

For the German government, the peace process in Sierra Leone has been "a positive example of the decisive action of the international community." After year 2000, the UN had sent up to 17,500 peacekeepers to the country; its largest military operation ever.

The UN led peace process had been supported financially and technically by the German government. According to Berlin, German aid to the peace process is still substantial.

The German government financially supports the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court in Sierra Leone, which is currently going through the war crimes committed during the ten-year civil war.

Further, German aid goes to the UN led Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration and Programme, while the German development agency, GTZ, supports the rehabilitation of former child soldiers and the reintegration into society of demobilised fighters.

A brutal civil war ravaged Sierra Leone between 1991 and 2001. The war was officially declared over by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah on 18 January 2002, shortly after he was democratically elected.

Post-conflict Sierra Leone has made substantial progress in implementing peace and observing human rights and the UN peacekeeping mission is preparing to leave the country at the end of 2004, if certain benchmarks are met, according to recent UN reports.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday celebrated the achievements of his outgoing Representative for Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, by saying that the UN in little more than one year had "supported a massive disarmament exercise, as well as national elections in Sierra Leone, and facilitated the restoration of the government's authority throughout the territory of Sierra Leone."

By staff writer

© afrol News

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