WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 44
SIERRA LEONE: British military supplies begin arriving
Extra equipment and ammunition for the Sierra Leone Army started to arrive
in Freetown last weekend and subsequent shipments will include troops
transport, a spokesman for the British military forces in the country said
on Radio France International.
Britain has committed instructors for basic training to the Sierra Leonean
army, as well as a naval task force with 500 Royal Marine Commandos and
helicopters to support UN peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone. The
British instructors are to train another 3,000 men to help bring the Sierra
Leone army's strength to some 8,500.
British Defence Minister Baroness Symons had announced increased British aid
to Sierra Leone on 10 October. She told the House of Lords that if
necessary,
Britain was ready to deploy up to a brigade (5,000 personnel) from its Joint
Rapid Reaction Force.
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