Share & more
Discussions are underway between the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to get disarmament in Sierra Leone's eastern district of Kailahun back on track, an official from UNAMSIL told IRIN on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the rebels announced that they would not continue with the disarmament process in Kailahun in protest over the outcome of last week's national consultative conference. The conference which brought together 22 political parties, government and civil society, passed 25 resolutions including one on a new electoral system - the district voting system.
According to the UNAMSIL official, the rebels said they did not have a chance to express their views at the consultative meeting and that the conference was not representative enough. They also did not like the resolutions and recommendations that came out of the meeting, the official said. "Discussions are taking place and we hope it will be resolved," the official said.
Kailahun is one of the last two of Sierra Leone's districts to disarm. The other one is Kenema. Disarmament was set to end by 30 November but because of logistical problems, particularly in the two districts, it might go on to the end of December, the official said.
"Some of the roads have been washed away and we might have to resort to airlifting combatants from inaccessible areas," Francis Kai-Kai, head of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR), told IRIN on Tuesday.
Kailahun, a former rebel stronghold in the diamond-rich district, was occupied by the RUF throughout the 10-year civil war.
A total of 35,457 combatants including 3,834 children, have disarmed since 1 January, according to UNAMSIL. Disarmament, as agreed under the 1999 Lome Peace Accord, was interrupted temporarily in May 2000 following a resumption of hostilities between the RUF and the government. It resumed after ceasefire accord was signed in the Nigerian capital Abuja in November 2000.
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
