POLITICS-WEST AFRICA: Committee To Visit Sierra-Leone

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Remi Oyo and Toye Olori.

LAGOS, May 30 2000 (IPS) - The six-nation Committee, set up by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to mediate in the protracted Sierra-Leonean war, will soon visit the country on a fact finding mission, Adrienne Diop, ECOWAS spokesperson said Tuesday.

“We don’t know the exact dates yet,” Diop told IPS. The Committee, comprising Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Togo was appointed at the ECOWAS summit which concluded in the Nigerian capital, Abuja on Monday.

Diop said the Committee is expected to help secure another cease fire with the rag-tag rebel army of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

The Abuja summit, which coincided with the 25th Anniversary celebration of the establishment of the 16-nation ECOWAS, also set up another mission to visit the diamond producing areas in Sierra Leone to evaluate the extent of exploitation of the mineral.

Diamonds are a major source of foreign exchange for the country, and rebels of the RUF, who occupy most of the country’s diamond-rich area, have been accused of illegal mining in addition to terrorising the civilian population.

The establishment of the Committees is bolstered by the long- expected endorsement by the ECOWAS leaders of the deployment of 3,000 West African troops to help restore faltering peace process in Sierra-Leone.

Ministers of Defence and Military Chiefs of ECOWAS had, at a recent meeting also in Abuja, recommended to the summit, the deployment of the regional troops.

Already Nigeria, Ghana and Mali have about six battalions serving with UNAMSIL, the increase would bring the strength of West African troops to nine battalions.

But the endorsement of an increase in troop deployment has a caveat — that the mandate of the current United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNAMSIL) deployed to Sierra Leone in April, be changed to that of enforcement.

In keeping with a Nigerian demand, the summit asked for a West African command of the UNAMSIL forces.

In the meantime, detained RUF leader Foday Sankoh, West African diplomatic sources told IPS here Tuesday is likely to be moved to Nigeria where he was kept under house arrest for almost three years until the beginning of negotiations which led to the July 1999 peace accord.

ECOWAS executive secretary Lansana Kouyate, said at a press briefing late Monday that Sankoh “would be taken out of Sierra Leone to be kept in a safer place”.

Kouyate did not elaborate, but said that the RUF leader’s new abode would not prevent his trial promised last week by President Kabbah.

The Lome power-sharing accord made Sankoh Vice President in the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah until his RUF rebels triggered a fresh crisis this month which escalated with the abduction of about 500 UN peace keeping soldiers.

UN officials confirmed on Monday the release of the last batch of the hostages were freed on Sunday.

ECOWAS information director also said at the press conference that captives’ release, demanded by the community would advance the course of peace but called for the release of the weapons seized from the captives by the RUF.

“It is dangerous to be rearming when the accord requires disarmament and demobilisation,” she said.

Even as the summit is concluded, ECOWAS leaders are still bogged down by the intra-national conflicts in the region especially Sierra-Leone and Guinea Bissau.

On the situation in Guinea Bissau, the summit endorsed a fact- finding mission especially over the tension which has not abated since the election of President Koumba Nhanca.

Summit host President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose government faces growing ethnic violence in Nigeria, told his West African colleagues Sunday that only a conflict-free sub-region will ensure the proper implementation of the various protocols especially on movement of persons within the sub-region.

“Our attainment in the area of collective security and conflict resolution in Liberia and Sierra Leone has gained us international acclaim. The sub-region now has the reputation of effectively collaborating with the international community in the maintenance of world peace and security,” he said.

Although the sub-region’s security situation was top of the summit’s agenda, affirmative statements were made on the critical issues of regional integration frameworks and the harmonisation of the existing monetary unions.

The 33-point communique acknowledged that the economies of West African countries are not only weak and fragmented but also heavily dependent on the outside world.

Integration remains the watchword of the 16 nations in the sub- region whose citizens will from late June enjoy a uniform visa fashioned after that used by most EU nations.

The visa will allow citizens of the sub-region to move about within the region without visa requirements and also permits residency in any part of the sub-region, in accordance with the provisions in the protocol on free movement of citizens and goods and services as well as right of residence and establishment.