Ten RUF commanders killed

Ten commanders of the anti-government Revolutionary United Front (RUF) were killed when their boat exploded in the Moa River near Manowa, in the eastern district of Kailahun, The Sierra Leone News Agency, SLENA, reported. It said on Monday that the rebel commanders were returning from a general meeting in Buedu, seven km from the border with Liberia, when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded and split the boat in two. Most of the victims drowned, SLENA said. It cited Daru businesswoman Fatmata Jalloh as saying she saw two uniformed corpses afloat on the Moa River near the town. SLENA said the rebels’ meeting “ended in disarray” with most of them rejecting a proposal by the representative of Liberia’s President Charles Taylor, “who insisted that the RUF must not allow the British troops to deploy in their areas especially in Kono and Tongo fields”. These are diamond fields controlled by the RUF. Taylor has always denied involvement in smuggling gems out of Sierra Leone. The report did not say if the explosion was an accident or a deliberate act. There has been a reported split in the RUF with no clear leadership emerging with which to hold talks about restarting the implementation of the Lome peace accord.