Crisis is regional, not internal, Jonah says

Minister of Finance James Jonah said at a news conference at UN headquarters on Friday that the crisis in Sierra Leone was not an internal war but a regional conflict driven by outside forces. Jonah asked the international community and the UN Security Council for help in dealing with its “external aggressors”, saying that his government was ready to begin “diplomatic moves to deal with the involvement of both Liberia and Burkina Faso and perhaps with Ukraine, about Ukrainian mercenaries,” according to a UN press release. There was no need for fresh talks with the rebels, however, because the Abidjan Accord already existed, Jonah said.

Meanwhile, Italy was the latest country to have pledged assistance to the ECOMOG forces in Sierra Leone, the UN deputy spokesman said in New York on Friday. Other countries that have supported ECOMOG include the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, he said.