POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: First Batch Of UN Peace-Keepers Arrive

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Nov 30 1999 (IPS) - After four months of the signing of a peace deal that ended eight years of bloody conflict in Sierra Leone, the 6000-strong United Nations peace-keeping force have started arriving in the strife-torn West African country, for eventual deployment.

The early arrivals are mainly officers from Kenya and India and they included commanding officers and a huge plane load of logistical materials.

Both Kenya and India are contributing a battalion each to the force, while three battalions will be drawn from the existing Nigerian contingent that dominates the regional peace-keeeping force, ECOMOG.

Ghana and Guinea who also had troops in ECOMOG, would likewise contribute troops to the UN force, bringing the total number of the force to 6,000.

The mandate given to the force by the Security Council is to carry out the disarmament and demobilisation of between 35,000 and 45,000 former combatants, from both the rebel groups and pro- government militia fighters.

The UN troops could also use force in the disarmament exercise, in the event that combatants refuse to comply. They are also charged with the responsibility of protecting civilian populations.

Quite expectedly, the war-weary population went into jubilation Monday as news spread that the UN troops had started arriving in the capital Freetown.

“This is my happiest day as I see hope in the future,” remarked Ken Thomas, a Freetown-based pharmacist. “I believe the UN troops will expedite the disarmament of the rebels and return peace to our country.”

Fanta Kamara, a 44-year-old housewife and mother of three, was equally elated by the arrival of the troops. “Thanks God the UN troops have finally started arriving to disarm these wicked rebel murderers,” she said.

Kamara like thousands of other civilians had their lives torn apart by the civil war. She lost her husband in the violence and their family bome burnt down by rebels, after all her valuables were looted.

More than 30,000 people died in the conflict, about 50,000 still living as refugees in neighbouring Guinea and Liberia and thousands maimed or amputated.

The challenges ahead of the UN troops are vast as has already been demonstrated by rebel combatants who have consistently been violating provisions of the Lome peace accord, signed in the Togolese capital in July.

Self-Styled Gen. Sam Bockarie, the battlefield commander of the main rebel movement, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) said Monday that his fighters are opposed to the deployment of UN troops in their areas.

“We (RUF) cannot allow the deployment of 6,000 troops because we were expecting just over 200…and also the Nigerian ECOMOG soldiers must all leave the country before we disarm,” Bockarie told a major European radio station, monitored in Freetown, this week.

Both military and government forces have confirmed the massive build-up of troops and war machinery by Bockarie, in the eastern district of Kailahun.