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No vacuum after ECOMOG’s departure, observer says

    ABIDJAN

    About 2,000 Nigerian soldiers who served in the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) ended their assignment in Sierra Leone at the weekend. “They are leaving and have officially taken leave of Sierra Leonean President Tejan Kabbah,” a humanitarian source told IRIN on Tuesday.

    The source said the soldiers belonged to two of the six Nigerian battalions that had been stationed in the country. “Four of these [battalions] have since been absorbed into UNAMSIL (the UN Mission in Sierra leone) alongside the Guinean and Ghanaian soldiers who were also formerly of ECOMOG,” he explained.

    He said their departure would not leave any “vacuum” because UNAMSIL has deployed in all areas where ECOMOG troops were stationed. “It has also deployed in other areas where ECOMOG did not deploy like in Zimmi and Joru along the country’s border with Liberia,” he said.

    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

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