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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SIERRA LEONE: UNAMSIL stages joint border patrol with national army

ABIDJAN, 13 February 2003 (IRIN) - The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and the Sierra Leonean army (RSLAF) have conducted their first joint border patrol in the northern district of Kambia along the border with Guinea, UNAMSIL reported on Tuesday.

Initiated by UNAMSIL Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande, and the RSLAF, the patrol - which began on 8 February - was the first significant operation involving the two forces in the border area. "A platoon of the Kenyan Battalion peacekeepers based in the town of Masiaka, and a platoon from the RSLAF’s Force Reconnaissance Unit jointly planned and conducted the patrol, which lasted for three days," UNAMSIL said.

UNAMSIL has been gradually downsizing of its troop prescence so as to hand over some its mandate to Sierra Leone's security forces following a UN Security Council resolution in September that the 17,000-member force be reduced by 600 soldiers by the end of December and by 4,500 by 31 May 2003. The Council's decision was prompted by the fact that peace had returned to most of the country following a brutal 10-year civil conflict.

It is expected that by December 2004, only 2,000 peacekeepers would remain in Sierra Leone. As at 31 December, the force comprised 16,042 members including 15,788 troops, 254 military observers and 4 police personnel.

The force was deployed in Sierra Leone in November 1999 with a mandate from the Security Council to cooperate with the government in the implementation of a disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration plan, ensure the security and freedom of movement of UN personnel and the delivery of humanitarian aid, and protect civilians under threat of violence.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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