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Britain to halve its military training team

    ABIDJAN

    Britain will cut its military training force in Sierra Leone by nearly half in September, news organisations reported a defence source in London as saying on Wednesday.

    According to Sierra Leone Web, the source told Reuters news agency that the British military was able to reduce its presence because the Sierra Leone government had regained control of much more rebel-held territory. “That has allowed us to get to the point where we can start to see the draw-down of our training team, which has been running at about 600, including a short-term training scheme,” the official said.

    Between 300 and 400 military trainers are expected to remain, initially. After general elections tentatively scheduled for the first half of 2002, their number is to be reduced to between 100 and 150 core trainers. President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has said elections can only be held when there is full disarmament of pro- and anti-government forces.

    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

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