Annan suggests scaling down UNAMSIL

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed that the UN mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) be extended by six months and gradually down-sized before an eventual handover of security and other responsibilities to the government.

In his latest report to the UN Security Council, Annan recommended that UNAMSIL's military component be reduced from the current level 17,000 peacekeepers to about 5,000 troops by late 2004, before settling on 2,000 troops "depending on need at that time", the UN reported on Thursday.

Annan suggested that the overall civilian presence should also be reduced, but that the number of civilian police be increased to about 185, mostly to help train Sierra Leone's police force.

Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, in a letter dated 8 August, asked the UN to extend UNAMSIL's mandate by several months beyond a 30 September deadline, before commencing a gradual withdrawal, because of the threat to regional stability posed by continuing conflict in Liberia.

Annan said Sierra Leone was making "steady and remarkable" progress in a number of important areas. He commended the government for taking steps to deploy its police and army, and to hold general elections.

He also praised the Sierra Leonean authorities' efforts to establish both a truth and reconciliation commission and a special war crimes court to address past human rights abuses.

These encouraging developments, along with a steady improvement in the security situation in Sierra Leone, had created new circumstances in the country that made it possible to consider beginning the gradual draw-down of UNAMSIL, Annan wrote.

The ultimate objective, he said, would be a gradual, phased and deliberate transfer of responsibility for the country's security from UNAMSIL to the government of Sierra Leone.

"The beginning of the draw down of UNAMSIL will take the Mission into the final phase of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone, which is recognisably one of the most difficult aspects of such operations," Annan stated.

Recommending a six-month extension of the mission's mandate, he said: "Its outcome will be critical in determining whether the efforts of the international community in the country over the past few years can be considered a durable success."

Annan said he was deeply concerned about the conflict in neighbouring Liberia and warned that, without the engagement of the international community, it could jeopardise the progress achieved in Sierra Leone and destabilise the Mano River sub-region.

These sentiments echoed those of Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in a letter to Annan on Monday, when he suggested that "escalating conflict" in Liberia was threatening to destabilise the entire area once again.

"The withdrawal process [for UNAMSIL] should be linked to... the fragile political and security situation in Liberia and the repercussions for peace and stability in the region," Kabbah added.