SIERRA LEONE-POLITICS: THIRD ARMED FORCE STYMIES PEACE EFFORTS

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

LANSANA FOFANA

FREETOWN, Mar 14 1995 (IPS) - THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW REBEL MOVEMENT IN SIERRA LEONE AND THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF FOREIGN TROOPS COULD FURTHER COMPLICATE THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE WEST AFRICAN COUNTRY AND PROLONG THE FOUR-YEAR REBEL WAR WHICH HAS CLAIMED 10,000 LIVES.

“WE HAVE RECEIVED INTELLIGENCE REPORTS ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES OF NAFORD IN THE NORTH AND WE ARE OF COURSE CONCERNED,” CAPT. TOM NYUMA, THE UNDER-SECRETARY FOR DEFENCE TOLD IPS TUESDAY.

“THE FIGHTING GROUP OR GROUPS SHOULD STOP THE KILLING AND DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AND COME TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE,” HE SAID.

THE CHANCES OF ROUNDTABLE PEACE TALKS, HOWEVER, ARE REMOTE AS FOREIGN TROOPS ASSISTING STRASSER’S NATIONAL PROVISIONAL RULING COUNCIL (NPRC) HAVE REJECTED DEMANDS BY THE REVOLUTIONARY UNITED FRONT (RUF) TO PULL OUT AS A CONDITION FOR NEGOTIATIONS.

“THE PEOPLE OF SIERRA LEONE ARE FULLY AWARE OF THE ROLE OF THE NIGERIAN SOLDIERS IN THIS COUNTRY. THE TROOPS ARE HERE TO HELP BRING BACK PEACE IN THIS PITIFUL STATE AND NOT TO AGGRAVATE THE SITUATION,” SAID ALHAJI ABUBAKAR, THE NIGERIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER HERE, IN A NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW PUBLISHED THIS WEEK.

ABUBAKAR TOLD THE WEEKLY ‘STANDARD TIMES’ THAT NIGERIAN TROOPS WILL STAY “AND HELP BRING ABOUT PEACE AND WILL IGNORE THE REBEL CALL FOR FOREIGN TROOPS WITHDRAWAL. WE WILL ASSURE THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY THAT AS LONG AS THERE IS WAR HERE, NIGERIAN TROOPS WILL CONTINUE TO STAY.”

GUINEA, WHICH HAS A BATTALION IN THE WAR-TORN COUNTRY, ALSO INSISTED IT WOULD ONLY PULL OUT IF PEACE WAS RESTORED.

IN ADDITION THERE IS A CONTINGENT OF 59 GHURKAS FROM NEPAL, WHOSE DEFENCE SOURCES SAID THEY WERE THERE PURELY FOR TRAINING OF THE LOCAL ARMY AND GIVING OTHER TECHNICAL SUPPORT.

LAST WEEK, A RUF SPOKESPERSON, ALIMAMY BAKARR SANKOH, MAINTAINED HIS MOVEMENT WILL ONLY GO TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE IF “ALL FOREIGN TROOPS WERE WITHDRAWN FROM SIERRA LEONEAN SOIL BECAUSE THIS IS A FAMILY AFFAIR WAR.”

THE REBELS HAVE ALSO ACCUSED THE GHANAIAN GOVERNMENT OF HELPING THE NPRC MILITARILY, ALTHOUGH THIS HAS BEEN DENIED BY GHANAIAN ENVOY, MAJ.-GEN A.K. TWUMASI.

THE ENVOY SAID ACCRA SUPPORTS PEACE EFFORTS TO END THE CONFLICT AND THAT HIS COUNTRY IS ENCOURAGED BY THE INTERVENTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, OAU AND COMMONWEALTH IN FINDING A LASTING SOLUTION.

CAPT. NYUMA SAID THE NEW FACTION — THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY (NAFORD) — WAS INVOLVED IN ATTACKS ON MASINGBI LAST WEEK AND MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN SIMILAR ATTACKS ON THE CONTESTED NORTHERN TOWN OF FEREDUGU ABOUT 150 KM FROM FREETOWN.

“WE’RE TOLD NAFORD INSCRIPTIONS AND GRAFFITI WERE PAINTED ON HOUSES IN MASINGBI AND FEREDUGU WHEN THE REBELS STRUCK,” NYUMA SAID, NOTING THAT THIS ADDED A DISTURBING NEW DIMENSION TO THE FOUR-YEAR CONFLICT.

UNTIL LAST MONTH, LITTLE WAS KNOWN OF NAFORD, WHICH HAS ITS POLITICAL HEADQUARTERS IN LONDON, U.K.. THE NEW REBEL MOVEMENT IS SAID TO BE HEADED BY A SIERRA LEONEAN BARRISTER AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST, ALLIEU KANU.

A NORTHERN-BASED JOURNALIST WHO HAS BEEN COVERING THE WAR INTENSIVELY TOLD IPS TUESDAY THAT DETAILED EVIDENCE HAS EMERGED ABOUT THE REBEL MOVEMENT’S PRESENCE AROUND THE PORT LOKO DISTRICT.

“MOST CIVILIANS WHO ESCAPED FROM THIS DISTRICT FOLLOWING REBEL ATTACKS INSIST THEY SAW NAFORD SOLDIERS IN BATTLE,” HE SAID.

THE JOURNALIST ADDED THAT UNLIKE THE RUF — THE MAIN FACTION — NAFORD DOES NOT TARGET CIVILIANS AND RESIDENTIAL HOMES. “THEY HAVE AT LEAST ON TWO OCCASIONS ARTICULATED THEIR POLITICAL AGENDA AND INSISTED THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RUF,” HE MAINTAINED.

NORTHERN SIERRA LEONE IS HOME TO BOTH RUF REBEL LEADER CORPORAL FODAY SANKOH, A DESERTER FROM HEAD OF STATE CAPT. VALENTINE STRASSER’S ARMY, AND KANU, THE NAFORD LEADER.

BOTH GROUPS SEEM TO BE VYING FOR THE NORTH WHICH HAS THE LARGEST ETHNIC GROUP, THE TEMNE, AND A MAJOR POLITICAL BASE FOR THE DEFUNCT CIVILIAN ALL PEOPLE’S CONGRESS (APC) REGIME OF FORMER PRESIDENT JOSEPH MOMOH, WHO WAS OUSTED BY THE MILITARY IN 1992.

POLITICAL OBSERVERS HERE, HOWEVER, BELIEVE THERE IS SOME CONNECTION BETWEEN NAFORD AND THE APC AS SOME OF KANU’S SUPPORTERS WERE SYMPATHISERS OF MOMOH’S PARTY.

ACCORDING TO POLITICAL SCIENTIST AHMED SESAY, NANFORD, WHICH CAME TO PROMINENCE LESS THAN THREE MONTHS AGO WHEN PEACE ENVOYS FROM THE OAU, UNITED NATIONS AND THE COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT, IS VYING FOR SUPPORT FROM THE NORTH.

THIS WEEK, A FORMER APC MINISTER IN EXILE IN FRANCE, MUSA KABIA, WHO CLAIMS HEADING THE ORGANISATION FOR PEACE AND SECURITY IN SIERRA LEONE (OPAS), SAID LOYALISTS OF THE DEFUNCT APC ARE BEHIND THE PROLONGATION OF THE CONFLICT AND THAT PEACE WILL ONLY COME ABOUT IF A ROUNDTABLE CONFERENCE IS CONVENED.

THE NPRC GOVERNMENT, ON THE OTHER HAND, INSISTS ON A CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES AND A ROUNDTABLE CONFERENCE AT WHICH THE REBELS WILL ADVANCE THEIR DEMANDS.

STRASSER’S JUNTA HAS ALSO REJECTED A COMPROMISE BY THE COUNCIL FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE, A 13-MEMBER RELIGIOUS MULTI- DENOIMINATIONAL COALITION, TO HOLD TALKS AT WHICH IT WOULD BE AGREED THAT ALL FOREIGN TROOPS BE WITHDRAWN AND PROGRESSIVELY REPLACED BY PEACEKEEPING TROOPS.

“THAT IS RIDICULOUS,” RETORTED AN NPRC OFFICIAL. “IF THEY ACTUALLY WANT PEACE THEY SHOULD COME STRAIGHT TO THE POINT AND NOT COUCH UNACCEPTABLE CONDITIONALITIES.”

“I KNOW THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS CONDITION BUT I THINK THE TWO SIDES SHOULD AGREE TO A CEASEFIRE AND GO TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE FOR RESOLUTION OF THE CONFLICT FOR AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT IS THE INNOCENT PEOPLE THAT ARE DYING,” SAID A WESTERN DIPLOMAT IN THE CAPITAL.

UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE HISTORY PROFESSOR, DR GUSTAV DEVENEUX, BELIEVES THE EMERGENCE OF ANOTHER REBEL MOVEMENT IN THE FIGHTING HAS FURTHER COMPLICATED AN ALREADY COMPLEX POLITICAL SITUATION.

“THIS MERELY COMPOUNDS THE PROBLEM,” HE ADMITTED. “SIERRA LEONE IS TOO SMALL TO BE EVENTUALLY BALKANISED. IT WOULD BE IN THE INTEREST OF ALL IF A PEACE CONFERENCE IS CONVENED AND THE WARRING FACTIONS STOP THE VIOLENCE.”