Makeni remains calm after a weekend of heavy fighting for control of the northern city between ECOMOG and rebels of the Revolutionary United Front, an ECOMOG source told IRIN today. The source said that although most of the ECOMOG force had withdrawn from Makeni, the town still remained under its control.
The issue of who controls the town has been the subject of claims and counter claims for some days.
The confusion about what precisely was happening in and around the capital Freetown was confirmed by aid workers evacuated to Cote d’Ivoire from Sierra Leone who spoke to IRIN. One said there were unconfirmed reports that the Freetown suburb of Goodridge had fallen to the rebels but another said that in fact ECOMOG had captured men trying to smuggle arms to that area.
The rebels have vowed to march into Freetown by the New Year and ECOMOG has stepped up checkpoints in the city to stop infiltrators.
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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