DATE=5/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N / SIERRA LEONE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262392
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A top United Nations official says the U-N
peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone will stand firm
despite recent setbacks. VOA Correspondent Breck
Ardery reports from the United Nations.
TEXT: Bernard Miyet (Me-yay), who recently returned
from Sierra Leone, says the position of U-N
peacekeepers is improving and that the situation there
was never as bad as some news reports indicated.
His comments follow the release of more than 150 U-N
peacekeepers who taken hostage by rebels in Sierra
Leone. More than 200 others are still being held.
Mr. Miyet says that, with the exception of casualties
during anti-rebel demonstrations in Freetown, no
civilians have died as a result of military activity
since the peacekeepers arrived.
Earlier this month several civilians were killed when
U-N peacekeepers were overwhelmed by demonstrators and
a firefight erupted between rival rebel groups.
Mr. Miyet, the U-N Undersecretary-General for
Peacekeeping, spoke to reporters after giving the
Security Council an extensive briefing in closed
session. He says not one member of the Council
suggested the peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone
should be abandoned. Mr. Myet says he is not
concerned that the "image" of the United Nations has
been tarnished by the kidnappings of some of the
peacekeepers.
///Miyet act///
Just because you believe that at some point you
will have failures and difficulties, and each
situation is different, you do not say, "For the
sake of the U-N I close my eyes to what is
happening in these countries and leave hundreds
of thousands of children, women and men starving
or killed in a country because I do not want to
damage the image of the U-N."
///end act///
Critics have accused the United Nations of failing to
plan and carry out the peacekeeping mission.
Mr. Miyet did say that some U-N peacekeepers in Sierra
Leone were poorly equipped at the start of the
operation. He emphasized that the international
community must provide sufficient resources to ensure
successful U-N peacekeeping missions.
///Rest opt///
British ambassador Jeremy Greenstock told reporters
that, in retrospect, the U-N peacekeeping mission in
Sierra Leone probably should have been larger and
stronger.
///Greenstock act///
We have to examine in the future, as the
Secretary-General has made clear, whether, in a
situation of that fragility, we should go in
heavier from the beginning and I am sure that
will come out of the lessons learned in Sierra
Leone.
///end act///
Mr. Greenstock says the British troops now in Sierra
Leone are there only temporarily until the U-N
peacekeeping force can be re-inforced.(Signed)
NEB/UN/BA/LSF/KBK
15-May-2000 16:34 PM EDT (15-May-2000 2034 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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