RUF, AFRC clash; aid workers incommunicado

Former rebels of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) clashed in the northern town of Makeni on Friday, news organisations reported.

Sierra Leone Web said the fighting started after the arrival in Makeni of between 300 and 500 armed RUF troops from Kailahun district and that it died down over the weekend. Sources in Freetown told IRIN on Monday they were unable to confirm this information due to difficulties in communicating with Makeni.

“We know that there was heavy shooting in Makeni on Friday,” a source at a humanitarian organisation with operations in Makeni told IRIN. “There are all sorts of rumours in Freetown but that is all we know.”

Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade, ECOMOG’s spokesman, told IRIN he had heard “reports from credible sources” that there had been fighting in Makeni. However, he added:”We are unable to confirm this independently as ECOMOG does not have any troops in the area.”

“We are concerned for the welfare of our staff in Makeni,” Jacqui Ryan, MSF-Holland’s head of mission for Sierra Leone told IRIN. “Normally we have radio contact with our staff in Makeni several times a day but we have been unable to get through since Friday..”

She added that other humanitarian agencies with operations in Makeni were having similar communication difficulties.
According to the Missionary News Agency (MISNA), a group including Bishop Giorgio Biguzzi of the Makeni diocese went missing at the weekend.

“We were first informed that the prelate was captured together with another two priests and a group of humanitarian operators in an area not far from Makeni,” MISNA quotes a Roman Catholic priest, Father Antonio Guiotto, as saying.

On Monday afternoon “we were told by various sources that the group was rescued by an armed formation respectful of the Lome Accords”, added Guiotto, who is the regional superior of the Xaverian missionaries in Sierra Leone. “For the moment we are not able to give further information and we hope the episode concludes for the best.”

A reliable source in Freetown told IRIN: “We know that Bishop Biguzzi’s car was taken over the weekend.” A source from the Catholic relief agency, Caritas, told IRIN they had been trying in vain to contact Biguzzi in Makeni for the entire day.