Fires rage in Freetown’s Eastend

Fires raged in Freetown’s Eastend today (Monday) as rebels began to flee from advancing West African intervention force (ECOMOG) troops, AFP reported, quoting evacuees from the war-torn city. Witnesses told the agency the fires had been started by rebels who torched warehouses in the Kissy dockyards area. The rebels, from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and their Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) allies, last week threatened to set fire to the city if ECOMOG reinforcements arrived to challenge their presence. “The rebels burn, pillage and kill as they go through,” ECOMOG commander General Timothy Shelpidi told AFP. He said the rebels used civilians as human shields. He said another 500 Nigerian troops had been flown in at the weekend and that his men had cleared the port and seat of government of rebels. He said his troops had pushed the rebels southeast towards Kissy, Wellington and Calaba Town. Kissy is an Eastend suburb, and Wellington and Calaba a further five km to the south.