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Government forces plan to advance on Makeni

    ABIDJAN

    Sierra Leone’s government forces plan to advance on Makeni in the north and the diamond fields of Kono in the east after capturing the northern town of Lunsar, news organisations reported a senior military official as saying on Tuesday.

    The army’s director of operations, Colonel Alfred Nelson-Williams, said Sierra Leone Army (SLA) soldiers killed 30 rebels when they took Lunsar on Monday but suffered no losses.

    Presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Wednesday that leaders from the West African Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed at 28-29 May summit in Nigeria that the different rebel factions should withdraw to the positions they held before the signing of the ceasefire in May 1999.

    “They were not in Kono at that time,” Kaikai said, adding that the government’s present strategy was wholly defensive.

    On Friday, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah said Sierra Leone would not be secure until the diamond region was in government hands.

    Kaikai also said that discussions, including security issues, were taking place within the Commission for the Management of Strategic Resources, National Reconstruction and Development on the steps required to “reap the maximum of benefits from the diamond areas in Sierra Leone”.

    Meanwhile, no date has been set for the trial of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh, “but he will be tried”, Kaikai 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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