The commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone, Major General Vijay Jetley, said in New York that he had asked the Security Council for more troops.
“I did make a statement that there is a requirement of many more troops over there—many more troops to be given to us as quickly as possible— but I didn’t make any number guessing,” news organisations reported Jetley as saying after attending a council meeting on Sierra Leone.
The Security Council met on Thursday to consider the UN Secretary-General’s report on Sierra Leone issued earlier this week and to discuss a draft resolution on the extension and strengthening of the current mandate of UNAMSIL that the Council intended to put to a vote on Friday, the UN reported. Another draft resolution on the trial of Sierra Leonean nationals is expected to come up in consultations next week, it added.
UNAMSIL’s authorised strength is 13,000. In a report in May, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended increasing it to 16,500.
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