ECOMOG denies its troops were disarmed

ECOMOG, the West African peacekeeping group in Sierra Leone, denied on Tuesday media reports that its troops were ambushed and had their weapons seized by men believed to be Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels.

ECOMOG's chief military press information officer, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade, told IRIN that Guinean units who had come directly from their country to Sierra Leone to become part of UNAMSIL were ambushed. In the incident, which occurred around 13 January, he said, the rebels seized over 465 AK-47 assault rifles, up to three armoured cars and ammunition.

Olukolade said ECOMOG was trying to help UNAMSIL retrieve the weapons. Both peacekeeping forces have been cooperating in support of the July 1999 Lome peace deal that ended the war between the RUF and the Sierra Leone government. ECOMOG officials and Foday Sankoh, leader of the newly formed Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP), travelled last week to the northern town of Kamakwie to try and retrieve the weapons from the RUF units which the Guineans said had made the seizure.

However, Olukolade said, the rebels in the area denied taking the weapons.