Sierra Leone President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has pledged to rebuild his country’s army ahead of Nigeria’s planned withdrawal from the ECOMOG force, news reports said. Speaking over state radio yesterday, Kabbah said his government had begun recruiting, training and equipping former army and militia fighters to “complement the efforts of ECOMOG and eventually take over the defence of this country”. Kabbah added that his government was developing bilateral military agreements with foreign countries. He also accused a “multinational mercenary force” of planning and funding the attempt to capture Freetown. Denouncing the “alarming level of civilian collaboration with the rebels”, Kabbah added it was “disheartening” that so many people condoned “the type of barbarity witnessed in the capital”.
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