Security Council hears request for expanded UNAMSIL

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed an increase from 6,000 to 11,100 in the strength of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in a report he presented on Wednesday to the UN Security Council. The purpose of the increase is to enable the UN force to carry out additional tasks currently assigned to ECOWAS Peace-Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) troops who are scheduled to withdraw from the country, Fred Eckhard, the spokesman for the Secretary-General, said on Wednesday in New York. These tasks include providing security at Lungi airport, key places in and around Freetown, disarmament camps and weapons storage sites. The UN peacekeepers will also conduct mobile patrols and provide armed escorts to ensure the free flow of people, goods and humanitarian assistance. Annan said in the report: “The rapid expansion of UNAMSIL will be indispensable to maintaining the necessary conditions for the implementation of the Lome agreement, in particular the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme, the extension of state administration throughout the provinces and, in due course, the conduct of elections in Sierra Leone.” According to the US Information Agency, the United Kingdom and the United States are in favour of the Secretary-General’s proposal and the UK has submitted a draft resolution supporting the request. Should the Security Council agree to the increase, UNAMSIL would be the largest UN peacekeeping operation. Meanwhile, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukulade told IRIN on Thursday that the withdrawal of ECOMOG troops from Sierra Leone “has been stopped for the moment”.