Four UN peacekeepers, presumed dead; 69 detained

Four UN peacekeepers are missing and presumed dead in Sierra Leone while eight have been wounded, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said in New York on Thursday. Okabe said 69 others were being detained: 39 in the northern area of Makeni and 30 in Kailahun in the east.

In addition, a 23-man unit was surrounded in Kuiva, near Kailahun, she added.

The four peacekeepers presumed dead are from the Kenyan battalion of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). They went missing in Makeni when members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacked UN forces. The RUF also attacked members of UNAMSIL in Kailahun.

According to a statement issued in New York on Thursday, the United Nations now has 8,700 peacekeepers in Sierra Leone (out of a total of about 11,000 approved by the Security Council) charged with helping to implement the Lome Peace Agreement, a July 1999 accord between the government and the RUF to end an eight-year rebel war.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a news conference in Paris: “I am disappointed by the behaviour of (RUF leader) Foday Sankoh and the RUF. I am in contact with many heads of state in the region who have decided to send people to talk with him.”

Sankoh had talks on Wednesday with Nigeria’s National Security Advisor General Alieu Mohammed [special envoy of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo] in which he promised “to release any hostage if held by the RUF in Kailahun, Makeni and Magburaka”.

Sankoh also promised “to continue dialogue for peaceful settlement” and to order his combatants to allow a helicopter detained in Kailahun to fly back to Freetown, according to a press release he issued on Wednesday.

He promised further “to allow freedom of movement for UNAMSIL peacekeepers, humanitarian organisations and the civilian populace in all areas formally under RUF control” and “to continue disarmament based on (the) Lome Peace Accord”.

Kofi Annan said the behaviour of Sankoh and his troops “risks complicating the situation and the deployment of troops in Congo because (UN) member states are going to be discouraged from sending troops to Africa, so I hope it can be resolved as soon as possible”.

“Obviously,” he said at the news conference, “we need to reassess this incident, what modifications, what change in attitude, what change in our relationship with him and others have to be made.”