British task force head confident in UN

The outgoing commander of British forces in Siera Leone, Brigadier David Richards, said on Thursday he was confident that United Nations and government forces were now fully prepared to fight RUF rebels, Reuters reported. His statement came as the last of a British Task Force, deployed in May to evacuate British nationals and shore up UN troops, began leaving. Sierra Leoneans have expressed their wish for the British to stay, against the background of the rebels’ detention of 500 UN troops early in May. “I am confident that what we have achieved here is to serve as a catalyst to enable the government and the UN to have another go, this time understanding what is involved,” Richards said, according to Reuters. The incoming British commander, Brigadier Gordon Hughes, brought in to train a new government army, called on the RUF on Wednesday to stop fighting for “a lost cause”. Hughes, who serves with the 2nd Anglian Regiment, heads some 271 British troops and instructors at the Benguema military base, some 25 km south of Freetown. On Thursday, they started training the 1,000 new recruits who will form the core of the Sierra Leone army. This coincides with a one-day visit by UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who went to Sierra Leone to visit British troops, meet the president and underscore Britain’s long-term commitment to the government.