DATE=5/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=AFRICA PEACEKEEPING (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261999
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The deaths of four United Nations peacekeepers
in Sierra Leone are raising concerns about future U-N
peacekeeping missions in Africa - among them, one
proposed for the Congo. Correspondent Nick Simeone
reports on how events in Sierra Leone are likely to
affect efforts by U-S envoy Richard Holbrooke to
secure the peace in a much larger and more complicated
conflict.
TEXT: The deaths of the U-N soldiers in Sierra Leone
amounted to one of the worst attacks on peacekeepers
in Africa since 10 Belgian troops were killed in
Rwanda in 1994. The news broke just as U-N ambassador
Richard Holbrooke was arriving in Congo to prepare the
way for a much bigger and more complicated
peacekeeping mission in a conflict threatening much of
Central Africa. He told reporters he doesn't want the
tragedy in Sierra Leone to affect his mission. But
others expect it will.
U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan says the attack in
Sierra Leone will do little to encourage western
countries to get involved in peacekeeping missions in
Africa. Sierra Leone's ambassador to the United
Nations, Ibrahim Kamara, agrees.
/// KAMARA ACT ///
If you fail in Sierra Leone, if you fail to a
small man like (rebel leader) Foday Sankoh, what
chances are your success like in the D-R-C
(Democratic Republic of Congo) and other
regions?
/// END ACT ///
Herman Cohen, who served as the top U-S diplomat for
Africa during the Bush administration, thinks the
Holbrooke mission will likely hear a familiar theme
from countries that have been considering sending
troops to Congo.
/// COHEN ACT ///
If these people who we want to help don't
appreciate it, they just shoot at our boys,
what's the use? It could have an impact. I
have confidence in (Mr.) Holbrooke's ability to
persuade them and show them that Congo is not
Sierra Leone, they really are two different
situations. But it's going to be an uphill
battle as it has been ever since Somalia.
/// END ACT ///
Eighteen American servicemen were killed there as part
of a U-N mission in 1993. The United Nations now
wants to send some five-thousand troops to Congo, a
conflict that several cease-fire agreements have
failed to stop. It's also a country where combatants
have threatened human rights investigators, and like
Sierra Leone, have also prevented United Nations staff
from doing their jobs. (SIGNED)
NEB/NJS/JP
04-May-2000 14:46 PM EDT (04-May-2000 1846 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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