British troops finalise withdrawal

Britain began pulling out the last of its troops from Sierra Leone on Wednesday, ending a month-long mission to evacuate its nationals and support UN forces in the country, according to news reports. AFP reported that the last troops from the 42nd Royal Marine Commando were due to hand over their base at Freetown’s Lungi International Airport to the UN and fly to a transit facility in Dakar, Senegal, before returning to Britain. The British intervention, codenamed ‘Operation Palliser’, ends at midnight. It dovetails with the start of ‘Operation Basilica’, under which 200 troops from Britain’s 2nd Anglian Regiment are in Sierra Leone to provide some 1,000 recruits with basic military training for eight weeks. The commander of the British training team, Brigadier Gordon Hughes, told President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in Freetown that more British military advisers would be in Freetown in the next three weeks, the state owned news agency, SLENA, reported on Tuesday. Kabbah said the mere presence of British officers in the country had inspired a lot of confidence in Sierra Leoneans and that British soldiers served as models for prospective Sierra Leonean military officers.