Tension between UNAMSIL and RUF

The relationship between UNAMSIL troops and Foday Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front Party is tense at the moment, HACU reported on 7 March. On 25 February, UNAMSIL told the parties to last year’s Lome peace agreement to stop obstructing the movements of UN peacekeepers as they deploy across the country. The warning - which was not the first of its kind - followed “numerous occasions” on which peacekeepers have been blocked by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) manning “illegal roadblocks”, a UNAMSIL statement issued in Freetown said. “This is despite repeated assurances from RUF leader Foday Sankoh that all such roadblocks would be removed,” the statement added The RUF’s refusal to allow UNAMSIL to deploy in key areas has not only reduced hopes of improved security conditions, but has also raised concerns over a possible military confrontation which could increase the dangers faced by aid workers on the ground, HACU said. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, has warned Sankoh that continued violation of the peace accord would invite a “forceful response”. Over 7,000 of the approved 11,100 UNAMSIL troops are on the ground and forces have been deployed to Makeni, Port Loko, Lungi, Daru, and Kenema. However there has been little or no progress in disarmament in the northern and eastern parts of the country, with the exception of Port Loko District, according to HACU. In the eastern town of Daru, fewer than 100 people have been disarmed, most of them ex-Sierra Leonean army soldiers wishing to be considered for the new army. The disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme (DDR) has not yet started in Makeni as DDR officials were unable to secure existing facilities for the encampment of the former fighters. Two sites have been identified, but construction, due to begin this month, will take some 4-6 weeks, HACU said. Rebel checkpoints have been re-established in the Makeni area but despite this, the RUF has given assurances that aid agencies would be granted free access. So far these promises have been kept but the situation there remains volatile, HACU said.