Zambia to provide battalion to UNAMSIL

Zambia has accepted a request for a battalion of its troops to serve in the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), a UN official told IRIN. The soldiers, which the official ‘Times of Zambia’ reported on Wednesday would number 800, are expected to deploy by May. Other countries with soldiers already on the ground are Guinea, Ghana, India, Kenya and Nigeria. The UN also has 22 military observers of various nationalities in Sierra Leone. The Zambian announcement follows recent protests that Revolutionary United Front (RUF) fighters were impeding UNAMSIL’s work. UNAMSIL’s Chief Information Officer, Philip Winslow, told IRIN on Wednesday that the RUF had been shifting troops from the north to the southeast, in a “fairly coordinated” manner over the last two weeks to block UNAMSIL’s deployment. RUF troops have stopped UNAMSIL from entering the diamond mining area of Koidu in eastern Sierra Leone. The 6,000-strong UN force has been criticised for its soft response to RUF pressure but says as a strictly peacekeeping unit it has had to rely on persuasion to get around these obstacles. “Basically we try to explain to the RUF that UNAMSIL has a right to free passage,” Winslow said. That right was effectively granted under the Lome accord, between the government and the RUF, which allows for the creation of UNAMSIL. The UN Security Council has approved the deployment of a 11,000-strong force. “We will eventually deploy throughout the country,” Winslow said.