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The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) released 15 members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) this week ahead of Thursday's tripartite meeting, a government official told IRIN.
"It is part of a confidence-building exercise," Deputy Director of Information Dominic Lamin said on Thursday. "When the RUF cooperates with the Abuja schedule, we release detainees as a goodwill gesture on the part of the government," Lamin said. The most prominent RUF members released on Wednesday included Peter Vandy, a former RUF minister of Lands, Housing and the Environment and former Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, Emmanuel Fabai. They were members of a short-lived power-sharing government from late 1999 to May 2000 as agreed under the Lome Accord signed by the government and RUF in July 1999. The head of the RUF's women's wing, Mayila Yansaneh, was also released, Lamin said.
They, along with other RUF detainees, were arrested and held without charge after hostilities resumed in May 2000. The latest peace accord between the two parties was signed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, in November 2000.
Issues to be discussed at Thursday's tripartite meeting, attended by representatives from the GoSL, RUF and UN Mission in Sierra Leone, include the current status of disarmament, the issuing of reinsertion benefits to former fighters and the reintegration programme, the UN reported.
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
