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Britain pledges support for peace deal

    ABIDJAN

    British International Development Secretary Clare Short promised the people of Sierra Leone on Wednesday Britain's "absolute commitment " to ensure lasting peace in the troubled former colony.

    "None of us has succeeded unless this peace process succeeds," she said at meeting with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah two weeks after the peace deal between his government and rebels. "Success will be its own reward."

    In Freetown Short visited Connaught Hospital, Murraytown amputees camp, a school and a community project. The school and the community project are funded by her Department of International Development (DFID). Short, who also visited Masiaka, about 150 km east of Freetown, is the first British
    minister to tour Sierra Leone since rebels occupied Freetown, the capital, in 1997. Foreign Office Minister Tony Lloyd visited in March 1998.

    DFID has given Sierra Leone at least 20 million pounds sterling in aid since Kabbah's reinstatement in March 1998. Aid is focused on the key areas of: humanitarian assistance, peace education, restoration of governance, police and security sector reforms, human rights and economic improvements.

    [CORRECTION: In the IRIN separate titled Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme and the Update 512 of 21 July referring to Sierra Leone - Please note the demobilisation centre in Makeni will be for the RUF and members of the former Sierra Leone Army and not for the Kamajors.]

    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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