POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Cease-fire Agreement Fails

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, May 25 1999 (IPS) - The recent cease-fire agreement between the Sierra Leone government and the rebels has already fallen apart with reports of fighting in the north of the West African nation.

President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front(RUF) rebels negotiated a cease-fire agreement last week in the Togolese capital of Lome.

The agreement was to have come into effect Monday(May 24), but according to military sources, the rebels have attacked several positions held by pro-government forces in the north.

These new attacks appear a strategy by the rebels to capture more areas of the country ahead of talks with the government in Lome on Tuesday (May 25).

Lt. Col Chris Olukolade, spokesperson of the Nigerian-led West African Intervention Force (ECOMOG) told IPS: “Our positions around the northern town of Mile 91 were attacked by the rebels, who also tried to dislodge our troops from the highway that links the capital Freetown to the eastern town of Kenema.”

Civilians fleeing the area and who have made their way to the capital also confirmed the rebel attack.

A businessman from the area, Musa Kamara, told IPS the fighting between rebels and government forces lasted for several hours and both sides suffered fatalities.

Apart from Mile 91 in the Tonkolili District, cease-fire violations also have been reported in the northwestern district of Port Loko, about 120 kms from Freetown.

Several towns and villages in this area reportedly came under attack at dawn on Monday. The rebels, according to reports, attempted to cut off the highway leading from Freetown to the Guinean border town of Pamelap, but did not succeed.

Lt. Col Olukolade told IPS that there is an urgent need to deploy cease-fire monitors throughout the country.

“These rebels are known for their trade marks, that is killing innocent civilians and the hacking off of limbs. Everything must be done to put a halt to this cruel act,” Olukolade said.

The United Nations has promised to deploy cease-fire monitors in Sierra Leone if both sides fully comply with the cease-fire agreement.

The Freetown authorities had asked for a thousand UN cease- fire monitors, but the UN says it is still considering this proposal.

In the midst of these reports, Sierra Leone’s government has sent an eight-member delegation to Tuesday’s talks in Lome. Members of the government delegation include Attorney General Solomon Berewa and Information Minister Julius Spencer.

The rebel negotiating team is led by its leader Sankoh who was released from prison last month to attend the Togo talks. Sankoh is appealing in a Freetown Appeal Court a death sentence for his alleged role in the May 25, 1997 coup which toppled President Kabbah’s government.

ECOMOG ousted last February the military junta which came to power in 1997, and restored Kabbah’s civilian government in March 1998.

Sankoh Monday denied ECOMOG’s claims that his fighters have started to violate the cease-fire agreement. He told the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) in an interview that: “These are mere fabrications by ECOMOG and the government. They have been attacking our (RUF) positions.”

Last week’s cease-fire agreement called for an end to the fighting and for humanitarian agencies to be given access to travel to the interior of the country where tens of thousands of civilians are believed to be living in deplorable conditions.

The RUF rebels still have not opened up the roads leading to areas under their control, nor have they released hundreds of civilians held hostage in their areas as called for also in the cease-fire accord.

Sierra Leoneans have known no peace since the rebels first picked up their guns. In 1996, the RUF signed a peace pact with President Kabbah in Cote d’Ivoire.

But barely a week after the Abidjan accord, the rebels stepped up their attacks against civilians in the countryside.

A sore point between the rebels and the government in the ongoing talks in Lome is the issue of power sharing. The government insists that the rebels form a political party and contest elections in 18 months.

But the rebels want a transitional government that will rule for four years before elections are held.