UNAMSIL troops low on food

The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has turned down a request by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to replenish, by helicopter, the supplies of UN personnel in the eastern area of Kailahun, the UN announced on Tuesday. The UN has been unable to resupply 233 peacekeepers and military observers blocked by the RUF in Kailahun for a considerable amount of time, the associate spokesperson of the Secretary-General, Marie Okabe, had said on Monday. "They now have 10 days worth of rations left," Okabe had told a news conference in New York. "We are taking this situation very seriously and every effort is being made to re-supply them by any possible means." Getting supplies to the contingent encircled in Kailahun was being complicated by the bad condition of the roads, due to the rainy season, and by the fact that on Friday a helicopter with supplies on board was denied access to the area, Okabe had said. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement on Friday expressing his "extreme concern about the unacceptable encirclement of the 233 Indian peacekeepers and military observers by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)." He appealed to African leaders, particularly President Charles Taylor of Liberia, to do their utmost to bring about their release, warning that "this situation cannot be allowed to continue." The general military situation in Sierra Leone was reported as "calm," on Monday, Okabe said, adding that UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) troops had discovered a large arms cache near Lungi, just north of the Freetown peninsula, and that an investigation was underway.