ICG calls for new military and political strategy

The international community should stop negotiating with Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) except to achieve the complete disarmament and demobilisation of the rebel group, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Wednesday. In a report titled ‘Sierra Leone: Time for a New Military and Political Strategy’, the ICG called on the international community to help Sierra Leone take decisive military action against the RUF. It also said there was an urgent need to harmonise the “divergent approaches” of the British government and the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). According to the private, multinational organisation, Britain is “arming, retraining and re-equipping the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) for a serious campaign”, while UNAMSIL “is still trying to implement the compromise provisions of the Lomé agreement” - the peace pact signed in 1999 by the Sierra Leone government and the RUF. RUF rebels who refuse to demobilise should be defeated militarily, the ICG said. “The military option could be spearheaded by UK-trained and -led Sierra Leone armed forces, with UNAMSIL securing the areas regained,” it suggested. “The UK should provide military and intelligence backup to guarantee the safety of UN forces.” The Civil Defence Force, a pro-government militia, could provide additional security for villages, according to the report. The ICG also recommends a UN-endorsed commitment to an international effort - that may need to last five years or more - to help Sierra Leone re-establish good governance and rebuild its shattered society. Without this, it said, even military victory over the RUF would be pointless since the resulting power vacuum would soon be filled by more violence from government and pro-government forces, new rebels and predatory neighbours. Other recommendations include the imposition of targeted sanctions on the regime of President Charles Taylor in Liberia - including visa restrictions, and the freezing of bank accounts - to persuade it to stop backing the RUF. [The full report can be read on the following web site: http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=274 ]