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Pro-government militiamen who attacked rebel troops in northern Sierra Leone recently were among those who had been in Guinea and were largely unaware of a ceasefire between their group and the rebel Revolutionary United Front, UNAMSIL spokesman Maj. Mohamed Yerima told IRIN on Thursday.
“We have sent out ground patrols to find out how [the attacks] started,” he said. Details of the fighting on 17 and 19 June can only be published after the facts were known, he added.
The group of CDF (Civil Defence Forces) fighters, he said, were separate from CDF units which have disarmed to UNAMSIL.
RUF spokesman Gibril Massaquoi said on Wednesday that at least 39 people were killed, 35 civilians and four RUF fighters in the attack on the villages of Lelewah and Woodu, Associated Press reported. Yet, Massaquoi said, the RUF will abide by the ceasefire it signed with the CDF in May.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
