UN peacekeepers protest rebel obstruction tactics

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) on Friday again told the parties to last year's Lome peace agreement not to obstruct the movements of UN peacekeepers as they deploy across the country. The warning followed "numerous occasions" in which peacekeepers have been blocked by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) manning "illegal roadblocks," a UNAMSIL statement issued in Freetown said. "This is despite repeated assurances from RUF leader Foday Sankoh that all such roadblocks would be removed," the statement added. Last Wednesday, UN troops withdrew to their duty stations after their movement in the vicinity of the eastern village of Bendu was obstructed by a large number of armed RUF combatants who refused to cooperate despite protracted negotiations. "UN peacekeeping operations rely on three main tactics: neutrality, persuasion and diplomacy," the UNAMSIL statement said, adding that neither the UN mission nor the RUF stood to gain from violent confrontations. Nevertheless, in another incident last Wednesday UN troops exchanged fire with rebels who were trying to loot a village on Pepel Island, 35 km from Freetown. The UN peacekeepers chased the rebels away and freed several civilians in their custody, UNAMSIL said. "This again demonstrates that when confronted with force at the tactical level, UNAMSIL does not hesitate to act forcefully to protect Sierra Leoneans in fulfilling its peacekeeping mandate," the statement said.