Jordan reconsiders contribution to UNAMSIL

Jordan is reconsidering its contribution to the UN peacekeeping effort in Sierra Leone amid what it describes as a changed situation on the ground that needs a new approach. Although it did not describe the nature of the change, it is likely a reference to the more robust posture UNAMSIL troops have taken in response to hostile rebel action against them and, recently, British troops. Information Minister Talib al-Rifa’i said Jordan’s 2,000 troops would remain so long as the UN increased UNAMSIL’s authorised strength, which is now 13,000, Jordanian television reported on Tuesday. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has already recommended an additional 7,500 soldiers. Ghana and Nigeria are expected to provide some of these men but the BBC reported on Wednesday that “Jordan would like a contingent from at least one NATO country to become involved”. Jordanian troops were active in securing the rescue of six British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer held by a renegade Sierra Leonean army band known as the West Side Boys. One Jordanian soldier was been killed in an earlier assault by the rebels, Jordanian television said.