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Chief of Staff advises against ethnicity in new army

    ABIDJAN
    The chief of staff of Sierra Leone's armed forces, Brigadier General Maxwell Khobe, has advised the country's authorities that future recruitment should "be based on merit irrespective of where people come from and there should be an equal number from every district," an army spokesman told IRIN on Friday. Sierra Leone is rebuilding its army, which was dissolved by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah on his return to power in 1998, AFP reported. The dissolved army had been made up mostly of Temnes from north central Sierra Leone, AFP added. The Temne and the Mende - who live in the south and east - are the country's largest ethnic groups.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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