Kono key to ending the conflict

Pro-government forces must seize the rebel-held eastern diamond region of Kono to end Sierra Leone's renewed conflict, a
key member of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's war coalition told IRIN.

Johnny Paul Koroma, a former coup leader and chairman of the Commission for the Consolidation of the Peace (CPP), said in an interview with IRIN that in any future peace negotiations with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the government must talk from a position of strength. "In other words, the mining areas have to be taken under government control. If that is not done then the war will continue," he said.

Due to their knowledge of the jungle terrain, he explained, only the pro-government forces have the ability to achieve that goal. "Even if they (the United Nations) bring more than a million troops they won't achieve much because the first problem is the terrain," Koroma said. What the international community needs to provide, he added, are military supplies
and equipment for the Sierra Leone Army (SLA).

Koroma headed the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) junta that ruled Sierra Leone in alliance with the RUF after a military against Kabbah in May 1997. However, when the RUF began attacking UN peacekeepers at the start of May, his forces teamed up with the government troops and pro-government militias against the rebels.

The aim now, he said, was to pressurise the rebels into peace talks: "We're not going to continue the war until the end. At a certain point it will stop, and we'll try and bring these guys on board. We're starting to do it already by dropping leaflets, (and helping) some of those who don't want to fight, who are going for the peace option, to find a way to join
us."

Koroma, who at one point had been held hostage by the RUF to prevent him from negotiating an end to the AFRC's rule, said a new peace agreement would need "modifications" to last year's Lome accord, particularly more stringent clauses on disarmament and a more effective reintegration programme.

He added that it was for the international community to determine the fate of detained rebel leader Foday Sankoh and whether he should be involved in future talks.

"Personally I don't think he's credible enough to participate at all," he said. "But it's for the international community to decide. If we have to bring him on board, then fine. But I don't think he's worth bringing on board at all."

Koroma said he believed West African leaders "have somebody in mind" to replace Sankoh as an RUF interlocutor.

He added that Liberian President Charles Taylor, widely seen in Sierra Leone as an RUF ally, should have a role in the peace process. "It's important to bring him in, he has influence over the RUF … I don't know what he wants, but the only way to move forward is for him and the president to sit down and sort things out."