CONFLICT-SIERRA LEONE: Kabbah Seeks The Support Of Rebel Leader

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Mar 29 1999 (IPS) - Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah has enlisted the support of rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, to end the country’s eight-year civil war.

Sankoh, a convicted prisoner on death row, was extradited from Nigeria last year, after his Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which teamed up with renegade government troops, was driven out of the capital Freetown by the West African Peace- Keeping force, ECOMOG, in February 1998.

In a televised speech over the weekend, Kabbah said: “The RUF leader, Foday Sankoh, will be flown to Lome (Togo), on or about Apr 18, to hold internal consultations with his field commanders, on the way forward for peace.”

He said the “rebel consultations” would last for about a week, after which Sankoh would be brought back to Sierra Leone and the peace process moved forward.

“I am hopeful, fellow countrymen, that by April 27 (the country’s independence anniversary), we would be talking about peace and be happy once again,” he said.

Kabbah’s overture is seen by analysts in Sierra Leone as a change of stance by the Freetown authorities, who had earlier rejected rebel calls for consultations with their leader in a neutral country.

West Africa diplomatic sources confirmed to IPS on Monday that all arrangements for the “rebel in-house meeting” have been completed.

The proposed meeting was brokered among others by officials of the United Nations Observers Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) secretariat in Abuja, Nigeria, and a number of donor nations. It is mooted that a possible ceasefire announcement would follow the Lome Meeting.

According to military analyst, John Conteh, in Freetown, the Kabbah administration, which recently suffered tremendous military setbacks in its war with rebel forces, may have been forced to seek a diplomatic resolution of the crisis, instead of pursuing the military option, which appears unwinnable.

“The rebels control virtually the entire northern region and also parts of the east. They also recently attempted overrunning the capital Freetown. So it is prudent for the government to smoke the peace pipe now or be kicked out by the rebels,” says Conteh.

Ordinary Sierra Leoneans also doubt the efficacy of the military option, which has cost the country dearly in terms of human and material losses.

More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict and a quarter of the country’s 4.5 million people have been displaced either internally, or as refugees in neighbouring countries, according to aid agencies operating in Sierra Leone.

RUF, which started its campaign against the Freetown government 8 years ago, now seems to have the upper hand, militarily, with its ally of the former Sierra Leone Army (SLA).

The fate of the SLA fighters worries peace brokers. These combatants are calling for their reinstatement into the national army, as condition for their cessation of hostilities.

But, their record of atrocities, in last January’s invasion of the capital has frightened many for such a move, which is loosely described as “suicidal”.

The Sierra Leonean army has a penchant for coups and insurrection, with over 10 recorded in just seven years.

RUF is also demanding power sharing with Kabbah’s government.

Over the weekend, United States under secretary in the State Department, Vicky Huddleston, visited Freetown and held meetings with Kabbah on the peace process. She also held talks with regional leaders and ECOWAS officials and promised US support for the peace initiative.

Sierra Leone’s Inter Religious Council, a coalition of several religious sects, also has been holding confidence- building sessions with rebel leaders in undisclosed venues.