Satisfaction at Sankoh’s arrest

Leaders, institutions and nations concerned with putting down the rebellion by RUF in Sierra Leone have expressed satisfaction at the arrest of the group’s leader, Foday Sankoh.

On Thursday, West African defence ministers and their military chiefs, at the end of their two-day meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, “expressed satisfaction at Sankoh’s arrest”, ECOWAS Director of Information Adrienne Diop told IRIN. She said the heads of state would decide “what to do with him”.

At the United Nations headquarters, US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke described Sankoh’s capture on Wednesday as “a positive development”. He said Sankoh was now “in a position where he is going to be able to be dealt with appropriately and he will not be able to continue the outrageous agreement-breaking ways” that had damaged Sierra Leone.

“Troublemakers in these regions cannot be simply wished away, they must be contained, captured, convicted or converted,” Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, said in Washington.

AFP reported British Foreign Minister Robin Cook as telling reporters in Moscow on Wednesday following Sankoh’s capture: “I hope that we may be able to stabilize Sierra Leone and reverse rebel advances ... To do that, we need to have a strong and effective UN mission on the ground.”

Sankoh’s rebels seized some 500 UN troops some two weeks ago and in doing so effectively tore up the Lome Peace Agreement between his group and the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.