Nigeria reinforces ECOMOG

More Nigerian reinforcements have arrived in Freetown to strengthen the West African intervention force in Sierra Leone, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimoh Okunlola told IRIN today (Wednesday). He would not disclose numbers but news reports said the 1,000 troops who arrived on Tuesday brought to 3,000 the number of Nigerian reinforcements flown in since Sunday. Okunlola said the reinforcements were being deployed where needed. The town of Lunsar, about 80 km northeast of Freetown, has been reinforced. ECOMOG has been consolidating its positions since its recent tactical withdrawal from Makeni, another 80 km northeast of Lunsar. Okunlola said the rebels did not have the capacity to hold ground after their attacks. Makeni was occupied by the government’s Civil Defence Forces (CDF) and civilians were beginning to return to their homes. ECOMOG troops would return to Makeni “in a very short while”, he said. They had withdrawn because supply lines had become too stretched. Rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the former military junta have increased their hit-and-run attacks since rebel leader Foday Sankoh was sentenced to death for treason in October.