Reports of rebels hiding weapons in the bush

Surrendered soldiers from the AFRC told AFP on Tuesday that some of their comrades were hiding weapons in the bush and would not respect the peace accord signed in July between the RUF and the government. One member of the AFRC rebel group, which fled to the northern town of Kabala after clashes with the RUF in Makeni in October and surrendered to a small group of loyalist army troops, said that some 3,000 former military junta troops were in the jungle surrounding the town. ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade said that while there was suspicion that weapons were being hidden this had yet to be confirmed. He added that the first phase of disarmament, scheduled to end on 15 December, was a "voluntary submission of weapons". Meanwhile, AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma told former soldiers at their base near Kabala on Friday to disarm and accept that the war had ended.