DATE=9/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N - SIERRA LEONE PEACEKEEPING (L - ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254379
BYLINE=MAX RUSTON
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is
calling for deployment of a six-thousand person
peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone. The call today
(Monday) comes amid concerns that a fragile cease-fire
in the West African nation could soon break down. V-
O-A correspondent Max Ruston reports from our United
Nations bureau.
TEXT: Mr. Annan wants the U-N Security Council to
authorize the proposed peacekeeping force for
deployment as soon as possible. In a report on the
situation in Sierra Leone, Mr. Annan says progress
towards peace has been made. But he says there are
several challenges to the process that must be
addressed.
They include a serious and growing rift between forces
opposed to the government, ongoing security and
humanitarian problems outside of the capital,
Freetown, and delays in the disarmament and
demobilization of rebel fighters.
U-N Spokesman Fred Eckhard:
/// ECKHARD ACT ///
In his concept of operations, the Secretary-
General says the main purpose of the United
Nations force would be to assist the government
in carrying out its program to demobilize and
disarm all former combatants, and to help create
the conditions of confidence and stability
required for the smooth implementation of the
peace process. The Secretary-General requests
the Security Council to authorize deployment of
a force comprised of six battalions as well as
specialized support units bringing the total
military personnel for Sierra Leone to six
thousand. The force will be known as the United
Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.
/// END ACT ///
The peacekeeping troops would work with the West
African force ECOMOG, which is dominated by Nigerian
soldiers. ECOMOG would maintain security in Freetown
and at the international airport at Lungi. The
proposed U-N force would be deployed throughout the
rest of the country.
Mr. Annan has already discussed the issue with
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and received his
support. The Nigerian president began a gradual
withdrawal of ECOMOG troops in Sierra Leone in August.
Mr. Annan is proposing that many of those troops be
transferred to the U-N force.
The Sierra Leone government reached a cease-fire and
power-sharing agreement with rebel leaders in July.
The conflict that led to that agreement was one of the
most gruesome ever in West Africa. About 45-thousand
combatants must now be disarmed.
Two rebel leaders have been offered government
positions, but have yet to take them up. In his
report on the situation in Sierra Leone, Mr. Annan
urges the two rebel leaders to travel to Freetown and
assume their new positions immediately, as they
promised to do in the July agreement.
Diplomats say the Security Council will likely vote to
authorize the peacekeeping force within the next two
weeks. (Signed)
NEB/UN/MPR/LSF/gm
27-Sep-1999 15:49 PM EDT (27-Sep-1999 1949 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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