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The US State Department has included the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) on a new "Terrorist Exclusion List" (TEL) in a bid to "further protect the safety of the United States and its citizens," deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said in a news statement on Thursday. By designating these groups, the statement said, the authorities have greater powers to deport members from the US or deny them visas to enter the country.
In a report published in April titled "Patterns of Global Terrorism" the US State Department included the RUF in the category "other terrorist organisations", pointing to its abduction of some 500 UN peacekeepers in eastern Sierra Leone in mid 2000 and its other "guerilla, criminal and terror tactics." A recent article by The Washington Post cited the RUF of involvement in illicit diamond deals with representatives of the Al-Quaeda network, accused of masterminding the 11 September suicide plane attacks in New York and Washington.
The RUF, which until recently was engaged in a 10-year war against the Sierra Leonean government, is one of 39 groups from around the world to appear on TEL. The US said it would continue to expand the list as it identified and confirmed additional groups that suppport terrorism.
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