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U.N. Mission Sets Military, Aid Strategy to Help Sierra Leone

Regional leaders "exasperated" with Liberia's interference
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- A special Security Council mission to Sierra Leone
is recommending a two-pronged approach to ending renewed fighting
there that includes better coordination of international aid already
going to the country and U.N. peacekeepers' putting more military
pressure on the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
Describing a "clear sense of exasperation" with Liberia's role in
fueling the fighting expressed by Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) leaders, British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said
October 16 that the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) should put
pressure on the RUF to resume talks with the government on political
reconciliation.
Greenstock, who headed the mission, told journalists that the
exasperation expressed within ECOWAS was accompanied "by a sense that
there is a dialogue to be had with the RUF, that many of them do want
to come over, that their leadership is to some extent fragmented, and
that there must be a proposition somewhere there for [the rebels] --
absent the worst criminals -- to come across into the political life
of the country."
Liberian President Charles Taylor "vigorously denied that he is
involved in diamonds and arms trafficking -- a denial which is clearly
... unconvincing with all of our other interlocutors. They are
exasperated with the role of Liberia in this regional crisis," he
said.
"I think President Taylor understands that -- although he may not
fully feel those pressures until they have been magnified further" by
countries in the region, Greenstock said.
He added that the ECOWAS leaders see the principles of the Lome peace
agreement as the basis for an agreement between the RUF and the Kabbah
government.
RUF leader Foday Sankoh "is recognized by everybody to be out of it,"
Greenstock also said.
The 10-member mission reported to the full Security Council October 16
on its findings. The mission, which took place October 7-14, met with
the presidents of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, and Liberia. It
began in Conakry, Guinea, and included stops in Liberia and Mali. In
addition to visiting Freetown, the mission also traveled to other
sites in Sierra Leone.
The mission also included U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham, Ambassador
Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Ambassador Paul Heinbecker of Canada,
Ambassador Wang Yingfan of China, Ambassador Patricia Durrant of
Jamaica, Ambassador Moctar Ouane of Mali, Ambassador A. Peter van
Walsum of the Netherlands, Ambassador Andrei Granovsky of Russia, and
Ambassador Volodymyr Yel'chenko of Ukraine.
The mission "met a very complex and in some ways a very distressing
picture on the ground," Greenstock said. "We knew Sierra Leone was in
deep trouble, but the trouble is spreading to the region ... and is
causing increasing concern to the regional organization ECOWAS."
The mission determined that resources to help Sierra Leone need to be
better coordinated and the peace process must be made to work better,
the ambassador explained.
"We recognize that against the background of everything else going on
in the world, the world will not pour resources into this crisis," he
said. "But there is quite a set of resources going in that do need
coordination. There needs to be a very strong effort to make the sum
of the parts of the international effort greater than they are."
The internal politics of Sierra Leone, regional and international
assistance, UNAMSIL, other U.N. aid agencies, international financial
institutions, private aid groups, and civil society together have
created a "spirit of activity," Greenstock said. But that activity "is
under-coordinated and is not necessarily producing the optimum good."
To make the peace process work better, Greenstock said, military
pressure must be placed on the RUF and "those who back them to deter
them from further military action and violence and to persuade them to
come into the political process." Secondly, he said, something must be
developed that is "attractive enough" to bring the RUF back into the
political process and into the normal economic life of the country.
The mission is recommending a seven-point comprehensive strategy for
Sierra Leone that includes revitalization of the peace process; the
special court for war crimes; the strengthening of UNAMSIL; the role
of ECOWAS; the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of
fighters into civil society; the leadership of the Sierra Leone
government; and attention to humanitarian and human rights problems.
The strategy will be used by the Security Council to "give greater
point and precision" to U.N. efforts over the next few months, the
ambassador said.
"I hope we make a difference," he said. "When you see the Sierra
Leonean people ... your heart has to turn to what we can do."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)