Britain gives 250,000 pounds for TRC

Britain will provide 250,000 pounds to help set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) envisaged in the peace accord signed in Lome in July by Sierra Leone’s government and rebels, Pete Hain, Minister of State in the British Foreign Office, announced in Freetown on Thursday. This contribution will “help it become a meaningful enterprise,” Hain said. On 29 December, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) submitted to the government the draft statute for the TRC, developed by independent experts with the support of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report dated 11 January. Sierra Leone’s government is now reviewing the draft with a view to the speedy establishment of the Commission. Pointing out that there would be no amnesty for crimes committed since the Lome Agreement, Hain said: “All the leading figures, whether in government or in the rebel forces, must show leadership for peace not violence. Those who do not will not be forgiven.”