Freetown tightens security

UN troops arrested three people on Monday, thought to be army deserters now calling themselves the ‘West Side Boys’. UN spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu said in Freetown that a woman wearing a military uniform had also been arrested and handed over to the Sierra Leone authorities. The arrests come as troops of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) strengthen “cordon and search patrols” around the capital. Ambush of civilian buses However, the road connecting Freetown to the provinces has been closed to traffic following Monday’s ambush of two state-owned Road Transport Corporation buses by the West Side Boys, Sierra Leone Web reported. Hundreds of commercial vehicles were lined up at Songo Junction, some 48 km east of Freetown, hoping to use a secondary road to the east, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Two passengers were wounded in the attack between Mile 38 and Masiaka. Others escaped into the bush, SLW said. The ambush came two days after UNAMSIL cleared the Freetown-Lungi road of all unauthorised checkpoints. Befecadu told reporters in Freetown on Tuesday that UNAMSIL was intensifying its patrols along the highway while negotiating with the West Side Boys to ensure free movement. The dissidents have been accused of harassing civilians at illegal roadblocks. The dissidents, once loyal to ex-junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma, have their base in the Occra Hills. They have ignored a government order to surrender to UN peacekeepers in Masiaka, 60 km east of Freetown, and recently clashed with pro-government forces. Russian helicopters Meanwhile, the 10-man advance party of a Russian helicopter unit arrived in Freetown on Monday to join UNAMSIL, Befecadu said. The remaining 115 men on four Russian helicopter gunships are expected to follow shortly.