Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone sees light at the end of the tunnel

afrol.com, 20 September - Speaking to the UN General Assembly yesterday, Sierra Leonean Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sama Banya, expressed gratitude to ECOWAS, the UN and humanitarian organisations for their operations in his country. From Sierra Leone, UN troops report that, since last November, more than 17.800 former combatants of all the various factions have turned in their weapons.

Sama Banya said that the UN Security Council had deployed over 13,000 peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone, the largest in any country at any one time. In collaboration with his Government, a special court was being set up to try all those guilty of the most horrendous and atrocious crimes against humanity. 

Following the unwarranted criminal abduction by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of hundreds of United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) troops, the civil society of his Country had organized a peaceful demonstration to appeal to Foday Sankoh for the unconditional release of the hostages. As soon as the demonstrators had reached his residence, Mr. Sankoh’s men had opened fire on the unarmed and defenceless crowd. 

He said that under the Lome Agreement, Mr. Sankoh had been appointed Chairman of the Strategic Mineral Resources Commission. He had used his position to secretly open negotiations with a number of people for the exploration and sale of Sierra Leone’s diamonds. His Government had signed the Lome Agreement in the belief that it would put an end to the atrocities being inflicted on defenceless civilians, especially women and children. Although the RUF leaders had lost any right to the provisions, his Government would revive the Agreement, particularly the disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation programme. 

The resolution of the Security Council on the ban of the sale of illegal diamonds from Sierra Leone, the so-called “Blood Diamonds”, was welcome, he said. The proceeds from that illegal trade had served to fuel the rebel war machine. His country was confident that the new arrangements for the marketing of their diamonds would not only end the illegal trade, but also bring sanity into the system to the benefit of the country. Thanks to the decisive actions of the Security Council and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Sierra Leone could see light at the end of the tunnel. The forthcoming trials of those who had committed such horrible crimes would be a signal to would-be adventurers that such impunity would no longer go unpunished. 

No words could express the thanks and gratitude of the people of Sierra Leone to the Security Council, to the International Community as a whole and to the troop-contributing countries, he said. Following the occupation and destruction of the economic areas, the carting away of resources, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and the wanton destruction of life and property, he appealed to the international community to continue and intensify their humanitarian assistance and to support programmes for rebuilding the country. 

17.800 former combatants disarmed
In Sierra Leone, UN peacekeepers (UNAMSIL) report that the general situation remains calm. Their main objectives the last weeks has been to search and confiscate weapons in areas under their control. In Freetown this weekend, UNAMSIL and the Police conducted a thorough search and recovered AK47 riffle and about 16 rounds of ammunition hidden away in a car. "They shall continue to do the ransom search and keep Freetown weapon free," a UNAMSIL spokeswomen said. 

Further noteworthy successes include the large-scale surrender of terrorists from the "West Side Boys" group. UNAMSIL yesterday reported that on Monday, 162 former combatants of the "West Side Boys" faction turned in their weapons to Nigerian UN troops. Since last November, more than 17,800 former combatants of all the various factions have turned in their weapons.

This weekend, Colonel Mohammed Siding of the West Side Boys and 63 others comprising of 33 men, 20 women, and 10 child combatants have surrender to UNAMSIL at Port Loko. They brought with them a range of riffles and other ammunition of different types. 

Also, Colonel Savage of the West Side Boys and 11 others did surrender themselves to UNAMSIL stationed at Port Loko. Colonel Savage, however, already in May had been at Kabala where UNAMSIL were able to convince him to come with his troops to disarm, and all his combatant went into the UNAMSIL disarmament camp, where they were registered. After a short while, they left and took up arms again. This second time Savage is in contact with UNAMSIL, however, he had surrendered and given up his weapons.

Sources: UN & UNAMSIL

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