RUF ex-combatants disarm

Former combatants of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in parts of the northern province have been disarmed, according to a news release on Tuesday from the Economic Community of West African States Peace Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). The RUF area commander for the ex-combatants in Fadugu, some 180 km northeast of Freetown, said that all the arms in their possession had been collected ready for handing over to the disarmament officials in compliance with the order from their leader, Foday Sankoh. He called on ECOMOG to ensure that other ex-combatants, particularly those of the ex-Sierra Leone Army/Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (ex-SLA/AFRC), were equally disarmed. At Kabala, some 220 km north of Freetown, AFRC/SLA leader Johnny Paul Koroma told former fighters that they needed to speed up the disarmament exercise. He said the earlier they disarmed, the better their chances of receiving benefits attached to the programme. He also told them not to hide weapons as there would be no opportunity to use them since there was not going to be any more fighting. Between 4 November and 22 December some 3,636 former combatants - 1,785 from the RUF, 1,257 from the AFRC and 594 from the Civil Defence Forces - disarmed, according to the UN Mission in Sierra Leone.