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Ex-SLA pledge change of attitude to disarmament

    ABIDJAN

    Senior officers of the former Sierra Leonean Army (ex-SLA) have promised to get their troops to abide by a peace agreement concluded two months ago by government and rebel representatives, ECOMOG reported on Friday.

    The ex-SLA officers "pledged positive changes in the attitude of their men towards the disarmament exercise, and to ensure a halt to all hostage-taking or cease-fire violations, by the ex-combatants along the highways," the West African peacekeeping force said in a statement.

    The pledge was made at a meeting last week at ECOMOG Headquarters in Freetown which was also attended by senior representatives of the government, the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone(UNOMSIL), the World Bank, diplomats and other parties associated with the country's Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme.

    Under the Lome agreement signed on 7 July by the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the encampment, disarmament and demobilisation of ex-combatants was to start within six weeks, that is by 18 August.

    It was agreed at last week's meeting that the ex-SLA officers should go to their bases near the Occra Hills - some 50 km east of Freetown - to explain to their men the preparations being made for the handing in of their weapons and arrangements for their welfare.

    The ex-SLA in Occra Hills have been responsible for a spate of kidnappings in recent weeks.

    ECOMOG quoted UNOMSIL and World Bank officials as saying at the meeting that "a peaceful and conducive security atmosphere" was a crucial element for the DDR programme to take off.

    Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade, ECOMOG's spokesman, told IRIN on Monday that he expected the ex-SLA officers to return to Freetown by Tuesday to brief ECOMOG on the outcome of their meetings with their men.

    Olukolade added that the DDR process would be speeded up by the return to Freetown of Foday Sankoh and Johnny Paul Koroma - who are still out of the country - as it would reduce the number of people with whom ECOMOG would need to consult.

    "We can deal directly with the leaders and they can deal with their men," he said.

    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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