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The 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, operational in Sierra Leone for over two weeks, will start to return to the UK this week and will be replaced by Four Two Commando Royal Marines, British Secretary of State for Defence Geoffrey Hoon said.
The changeover is the first stage of a plan to withdraw “the bulk of our deployed force by the previously announced timetable of mid-June”, he added.
Following an attack by rebels on the paratroopers last week, light guns have been moved ashore and reconnaisance flights have taken place. Now that the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) have returned to violence, he said, the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) will also have access to stocks of light weapons and ammunition if needed for operations.
He added that any distribution of arms and ammunition will take place under the supervision of British officers and will be “carefully considered in the context of the local political situation and the wider regional issues”.
The immediate mission of the UK troops - to secure the airport for evacuation purposes and allow the reinforcement of the UN contingent - remains the same, Hoon said.
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