DATE=5/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=JACKSON/SIERRA LEONE (L/S)
NUMBER=2-262475
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton's special envoy for Africa,
Jesse Jackson, is preparing to visit west Africa in an
effort to help resolve the crisis in Sierra Leone.
Correspondent Nick Simeone reports the trip was
delayed after Mr. Jackson made comments that threw his
mission into doubt.
TEXT: Jesse Jackson is to visit five West African
countries, including Sierra Leone. But the Sierra
Leone government is threatening to revoke his visa.
Mr. Jackson's trip has been delayed by one day, after
an uproar caused by comments he made last week
comparing Sierra Leone's brutal Revolutionary United
Front rebel movement with South Africa's African
National Congress. Many in Sierra Leone were outraged
by the comments and encouraged him to cancel the
visit.
Mr. Jackson says his remarks were misunderstood.
U-S officials say he intends to visit the region to
discuss bolstering what is the largest U-N
peacekeeping mission in Africa, one that has been
unable to fully do its job.
Several-hundred U-N peace keepers have been taken
hostage by rebels, others remain unable to disarm
fighters in diamond-rich areas outside the capital.
// REST OPT FOR LONG //
Mr. Jackson told V-O-A the ultimate success or failure
of the U-N mission in Sierra Leone will likely affect
other U-N operations in Africa, including the proposed
deployment of five-thousand U-N peacekeepers and
personnel in Congo.
// JACKSON ACT //
To be bold enough to capture U-N troops itself
shakes the world community. It does affect the
attitude about U-N peacekeepers in Congo.
// END ACT //
Unlike the mission in Sierra Leone, U-S ambassador to
the United Nations Richard Holbrooke says no U-N
peacekeepers will be dispatched to Congo until there
is, in fact, a peace to keep. (SIGNED)
NEB/NJS/RAE
17-May-2000 12:04 PM EDT (17-May-2000 1604 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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