POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Rebels Reject Deployment of Peace-Keepers

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Oct 4 1999 (IPS) - Sierra Leone’s rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), who signed a peace agreement with the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in July, have rejected the proposed deployment of 6,000 UN peace-keepers in the West African state.

Last week, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan proposed to the Security Council the urgent need for the deployment of a robust UN force, that would expedite the much delayed disarmament and demobilisation of some 45,000 armed combatants.

The majority of the proposed peace-keepers will be drawn from the existing Nigerian-led West African troops already in Sierra Leone, backed by a helicopter-borne rapid reaction force that will enable the keepers to respond to any threat of security breakdown in any part of the country.

Annan said “the proposal for the peace-keeping force is predicated on the continued stay of ECOMOG (the West African peace- keeping force) in Sierra Leone to help consolidate the peace”.

RUF leader, Corporal Foday Sankoh, said last week that his movement takes exception to the idea of the peace-keeping force.

“This is something we have to negotiate. The UN proposal is not in the peace accord. We never asked the UN for a peace-keeping force. We talked about ECOMOG”, Sankoh said.

The peace agreement, signed in the Togolese capital of Lome in July, is vague about an expanded role for UN peace-keepers. Nonetheless, it calls on the UN Security Council to amend the mandate of the UN Military Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), to enable it undertake the various provisions outlined in the agreement.

So far there are less than 100 UNOMSIL troops in the West African State, and there has been so much delay in the commencement of the disarmament programme, which is central to the fragile peace process.

There has also been a silent war between ECOMOG and UNOMSIL over who should head the disarmament exercise, funds, and who eventually should take the overall credit.

ECOMOG sources told IPS that this tussle has been one of the major problems facing the implementation of the peace agreement, especially the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants.

“We have always been prepared to embark on the DDR of combatants, as our mandate has changed from that of an intervention force to that of a peace-keeping one,” an ECOMOG spokesperson told IPS last week.

“We have always been in the forefront of defending and protecting the people of Sierra Leone against the atrocious conduct of the rebels. We believe we should be supported to complete our endeavours,” he said.

Lack of support and political pressure on the Nigerian government to withdraw its troops from Sierra Leone (Nigerians form more than 70 percent of ECOMOG) has affected the morale of ECOMOG, making their continued stay in Sierra Leone uncertain.

Nigeria has already withdrawn 2,000 of its 14,000 troops from Sierra Leone, as part of its “phase withdrawal exercise”.

Civil society groups and political activists in Nigeria have been consistently heaping pressure on their government to divert the almost one million US Dollars a day it spends on ECOMOG operations in Sierra Leone, to the domestic economic demands of Nigeria.

Political analysts view Annan’s proposal as a way of lifting the financial burden on Nigeria and giving the peace-keeping mission a multinational outlook, as opposed to the rebels claim that the peace-keeping operation is a predominantly Nigeria affair.

“I think Mr Annan’s move is a positive one because it exposes the duplicity and double standards of the West and even the United Nations”, opines Khalil Sesay, a political analyst in Sierra Leone.

“Now the UN and the West don’t have to break their heads over assembling troops as ECOMOG soldiers here better know the terrain and are familiar with the psychology of the rebels,” he says.

The Sierra Leonean government has welcomed the proposal. President Kabbah’s spokesman, Septimus Kaikai told IPS last week that, “We welcome the UN Secretary General’s proposal and do hope the process is expedited to meet the challenges of the peace process.”