DATE=5/3/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SIERRA LEONE FIGHTING (L)
NUMBER=2-261955
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations says seven peacekeepers have
been killed in a battle with rebels in Sierra Leone.
The U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan has called the
rebel attack on the peacekeepers "criminal," and says
rebel leader Foday Sankoh should be held personally
responsible. V-O-A's John Pitman has more from our
West Africa Bureau.
TEXT: According to the U-N mission in Sierra Leone,
UNAMSIL, rebel fighters from the Revolutionary United
Front, or R-U-F, attacked Kenyan peacekeeping units in
the towns of Makeni and Magburaka on Tuesday.
UNAMSIL says the peacekeepers returned fire, but
suffered several casualties, including seven dead.
The U-N has not released the victims' nationalities,
but international relief workers in Sierra Leone tell
V-O-A the dead were members of the Kenyan battalion.
Three other peacekeepers were wounded in the gun
battle, which continued into Wednesday morning before
stopping.
The killings coincided with news that the R-U-F was
holding nearly 50 U-N personnel captive -- including
peacekeepers and civilians -- and that nearly 60 other
U-N peacekeepers were missing.
The United Nations says it has begun negotiations with
the rebels to secure the release of the detained
personnel. It is also struggling to re-establish
contact with the lost peacekeepers, who disappeared
amid what the United Nations called "a fluid
situation."
On Wednesday, U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan
expressed his "outrage" at the killings. In a
statement, Mr. Annan said he would hold Foday Sankoh,
the leader of the R-U-F, personally responsible for
the attacks, which he said were a "flagrant violation"
of the Lome peace agreement that ended Sierra Leone's
civil war last year.
For his part, Mr. Sankoh used the fighting in Makeni
to lash out at UNAMSIL, which he accuses of taking
sides in the conflict. Speaking to reporters at his
home in Freetown, Mr. Sankoh accused the United
Nations of, in his words, "interfering" in the
internal affairs of his country.
/// SANKOH ACT ///
These people, are they here to make peace? Why
(do) they allow politicians to use them to their
own advantage because of their selfish aims?
They are not here to make peace. Koffi Annan is
misleading the Security Council. He does not
even bother to talk to me. Sometimes I call to
make our own story or own side of the story
(known). He doesn't even bother to talk to us.
There's no respect for us.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Sankoh said six of his fighters had been killed by
the peacekeepers, whom he accused of trying to
forcibly disarm R-U-F combatants.
/// OPT /// Some 45-thousand former combatants are to
be disarmed in a U-N - supervised program agreed to in
the Lome accord. However, poor relations between the
United Nations and the R-U-F has prevented thousands
of R-U-F fighters from turning in their arms. /// END
OPT ///
The former rebel leader said despite his disagreements
with the United Nations, he is ready to talk about the
detained peacekeepers. But he said UNAMSIL officials
would have to come to him, because he fears the Sierra
Leonean government might arrest him if he leaves his
heavily guarded house.
Late Wednesday, the United Nations announced it had
surrounded Mr. Sankoh's compound, but witnesses in
Freetown said the situation there remained calm.
(Signed)
NEB/jp/gm
03-May-2000 16:59 PM EDT (03-May-2000 2059 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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