British support for aid and ECOMOG

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook announced yesterday (Tuesday) that his government was releasing another US $1.6 million for humanitarian assistance to the people of Sierra Leone and logistical support for ECOMOG. Cook told parliament yesterday that the situation in the country “remains worrying”, a Foreign Office statement said. He said much of Freetown had been destroyed, “many hundreds” of ECOMOG soldiers had been killed in the fighting, and much of the rest of the country remained in rebel hands. He said Britain has been the international community’s principal supporter of President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah “and the legitimate government of Sierra Leone”, and it had shared intelligence information and maps with ECOMOG. Earlier this month, Britain announced it was donating US $1.6 million to Sierra Leone and ECOMOG. Meanwhile, the British frigate HMS Norfolk, anchored off the coast of Freetown, left for Guinea to stock up on supplies, AFP said today. The frigate was due to return tomorrow (Thursday), it said.