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President Charles Taylor has offered two companies to the proposed 3,000 strong Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) peacekeeping force for Sierra Leone. His counterpart in Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaore told Gabon's Africa No 1 radio on Saturday that his country was also ready to take part in the Sierra Leone peace process and provide troops for ECOWAS. Taylor visited Burkina Faso late last week.
ECOWAS Director of Information Adrienne Diop told IRIN on Monday that they had not yet received a formal offer from Liberia and Burkina Faso, both of which have have denied frequent allegations that they back the RUF.
Meanwhile, the UN Special Representative Oluyemi Adeniji told reporters on Friday in Freetown that the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and ECOWAS had given Taylor a mandate to act as an interlocutor with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) over the return of UN vehicles and equipment captured by the rebels.
"One can be reasonably optimistic that many of these weapons will
surface," Adeniji said.
However, Taylor said recently that the likelihood of recovering weapons was slim.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions