|
Annan Arrives In Sierra Leone At Start Of African Tour
by Jean-Pierre Campagne
FREETOWN (AFP) – U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived in the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown Saturday at the start of an eight-day sweep through Africa that will also take him to Benin and the Horn of Africa.
On his arrival at Freetown airport, Annan said everything possible would be done to restore peace and security to the strife-torn West Africa country.
He was welcomed at the airport by the new commander of the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone, Kenyan General Daniel Ismail Opande, as well as by a UNAMSIL guard of honor.
Later in the afternoon, Annan held talks at the presidency with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, assuring the Sierra Leonean leader that he was in the country to consolidate and reinforce the United Nations forces.
He also warned Kabbah that the "road is still long" to peace in the country, which has been torn apart by civil war for almost 10 years.
Officials earlier said Annan's two-day stopover in Sierra Leone was aimed at breathing life into the ailing peace process.
An accord to end fighting between government forces and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) - the main opposition group - has been in limbo since it was signed in Abuja on November 11th, even though there has been no actual fighting.
UNAMSIL, comprising 13,000 soldiers, is the largest peacekeeping force in the world, but its position in Sierra Leone has been considerably weakened since May when the RUF took hostage some 500 peacekeepers.
Since the hostage taking, there has been bitter infighting between the Indian and Nigerian contingents in the force, and India and Jordan have both announced they were withdrawing their troops.
According to press reports Saturday, quoting the assistant secretary general in charge of peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, soldiers from Ghana and Bangladesh will take their place, but the numbers involved and their dates of arrival have yet to be determined.
Another test of UNAMSIL will be the deployment of peacekeepers in the diamond zones of the east, which are held by the RUF.
On Friday, officials of UNAMSIL and the RUF met for talks on the application of the accord, the deployment of peacekeepers in the east, the return of U.N. equipment taken by the RUF, and the opening of routes to the east.
Another difficulty thwarting the peace process is the absence of charismatic rebel leader Foday Sankoh, who is in prison in the town of Freston being guarded by government troops, according to officials.
In Sankoh's absence, the RUF no longer speaks with a united voice and other opposition leaders are disowning the Abuja accord.
On Sunday, Annan will address troops in Port Loko, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Freetown, and later fly to Cotonou, the capital of Benin, to attend the fourth conference on new and restored democracies.
On Tuesday, he will begin a four-day visit to Ethiopia and Eritrea, during which he will visit members of the new U.N. military observer force monitoring the ceasefire between the two countries.
|
