By Lansana Fofana
FREETOWN, Aug 2 1999 (IPS)

Renewed fighting between the pro- government “Kamajor” militia forces and the former rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) may threaten a peace deal signed last month in Lome, Togo, to end Sierra Leone’s eight years of civil war.

Since last week, both the Kamajors and the RUF officials have been trading accusations of violations in parts of the north, south and east of the country.

According to the High Command of the militia Movement, RUF forces attacked a string of towns in the eastern district of Kenema, located over 200 kilometres from the capital Freetown, which were under militia control.

The Kamajors, who helped return President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to power in March 1998, after nine months in exile following a military coup, said in a press statement last week that the rebel attacks were centred on lucrative diamond mining towns.

“The RUF rebels dislodged our troops in these areas, because we were thin on the ground and, more importantly, we do not want to violate the cease-fire,” the statement read.

In the Kambia district, which lies on the northwestern border with Guinea, rebel forces have also been reportedly attacking towns and villages in search of food.

The village of Mathonk was particularly hardest hit as residential homes were ransacked and all moveable items, including food, carted away by the rebels, last week.

There have also been several incidents in Gold Town, Jaiama Nimikoro and Sewafe where clashes have been reported between the Kamajors and the RUF forces, for control of territory. These are all diamond-rich towns in the eastern district of Kono.

These instances of cease-fire violations have made the war- weary civilian population in Freetown very worried.

After eight years of bloody civil strife, which claimed more than 30,000 lives, left hundreds of civilians with severed body parts like hands and legs, and over 400,000 scattered in neighbouring countries as refugees, the government and rebels signed a cease-fire in May, and a peace deal subsequently on Jul 7.

The RUF have also been accusing the Kamajors of attacking their positions in the northern axis.

“I’ve been getting complaints of Kamajors attacking my men in Masingbi (in the north) and elsewhere in the country…if these attacks continue, we would have no option left but to fight back,” RUF commander Denis Mingo told IPS last week.

The claims of cease-fire violations have been reported to the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), which says it is investigating the charges.

But analysts are worried about the slow response by UNOMSIL, which maintains a token force in Sierra Leone. With less than 50 men, the UN monitors are tasked with disarming and encamping, with assistance from the West African Peace-keeping force ECOMOG.

Upto now, not a single UN observer has been deployed in the north of the country, which has thousands of rebel forces, as well as parts of the east.

When UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, visited Freetown last month, president Kabbah appealed to him for additional peace monitors, to expedite the disarmament and reintegration process.

But neither have these monitors been sent, nor have the estimated 35 million US dollars pledged by the donor community for disarmament, been made available.

“There seems to be clear donor apathy and lukewarm response to the demands of the implementation of the Lome Peace pact, and I am afraid it may collapse, unless urgent steps are taken,” Bockarie Mansaray, a political analyst in Freetown, opined.

Perhaps, also worrying is the fact that the rebels, who are estimated to number more than 20,000, have reportedly vowed not to surrender their weapons to ECOMOG, which backs President Kabbah.

By all indications, Sierra Leoneans fear that doom and gloom await Sierra Leone, if the international community does not move in quickly to salvage a cash-strapped nation, on the brink of disaster.

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