12 May 2000
U.S. Special Envoy Jesse Jackson Prepares for Mission to Sierra Leone
(Appeals to RUF leader Sankoh to show himself, free hostages) (510) By Jim Fisher-Thompson Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- Just days before he departs on a special diplomatic mission to western Africa, the Reverend Jesse Jackson on May 12 made a "moral appeal" to the elusive Sierra Leonian rebel leader Foday Sankoh to show himself, to release U.N. peacekeepers detained by his rebel forces, and to stop "military advances on Freetown." Jackson, special envoy for the president and the secretary of state for the promotion of democracy in Africa, has been asked by President Clinton to travel to the troubled region on May 16 in hopes of gaining the release of some 500 U.N. soldiers and civilians detained by Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF). But Jackson made plain during a teleconference May 12, that it is "the West African leadership [who] must create an arrangement" to gain the release of the detainees and bring stability to Sierra Leone once more. The Reverend Jackson said he will seek to "convene all relevant forces" to stop the fighting and rebel movements. Jackson, who will be accompanied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ambassador Howard Jeter, said in his numerous visits to the region that "I've gotten to know on a first name basis most" of the leaders in the civil war. He said that "we hope to use these relationships to create a level of dialogue that has somehow broken down." Part of that effort will be aimed at reconstituting the Lome Peace Accord, which Jackson helped broker, and which he said has "seemed to come apart." Asked how he planned to deal with Sankoh and Liberia's President Charles Taylor, who have proven to be unreliable negotiators in the past, Jackson said "when you are trying to end these kind of wars, where there is blood on every side and there are no clean hands, you must get the best resource you can to achieve" a return to the negotiating table. Jackson explained that President Taylor has a role to play in talks because he "does know Sankoh well; and if he can keep Sam Bokare in Liberia (a Sankoh ally) and talk to the commanders and they hear him, that would be positive." He added that "we urge him to continue to play a mediating role and help us make a moral appeal for release" of the detained U.N. peacekeepers and civilians. Jackson stressed that while he spoke by phone with Sankoh last week, "no one is sure where he is, or whether he is hiding out free or whether he is captured. There is reason to believe he is alive and we certainly hope that (is the case), because his voice can be a calming influence on the anxiety of the [U.N.] troops as well as the tension within the RUF itself." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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