SIERRA LEONE: Wounded UN peacekeeper in "stable" condition

A UN peacekeeper who was shot on Sunday in Sierra Leone "is still alive, responding to treatment and in a stable condition", an official from the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) public information office told IRIN on Tuesday. A news organisation had reported on Tuesday that the soldier had died. The peacekeeper, a sergeant, was admitted to hospital with bullet wounds in one lung and a leg after ex-Sierra Leone Army (ex-SLA) rebels attacked 10 Nigerian UNAMSIL soldiers patrolling the Port Loko area in the north of the country. [The ex-SLA were soldiers loyal to the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta that deposed President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in May 1997 and ruled until the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG , ousted it in February 1998. UNAMSIL said on Monday in a press release that the soldiers had been deployed along the road at Moira Junction, some seven km southwest of Port Loko, to deter rebels who had been attacking, robbing and harassing civilians along a stretch of the road in the Occra Hills, an ex-SLA/AFRC stronghold. "Four peacekeepers held a position on the main road, while six others followed a bush track to prevent the rebels from reaching the road," it said. However, the soldiers were confronted by about 100 heavily-armed AFRC rebels who ordered the sergeant leading the patrol to surrender his weapon. "When he refused, a scuffle ensued and the rebels shot him twice," the UNAMSIL statement said. One peacekeeper went to summon help, while the other four were overpowered and their weapons confiscated, the statement added. The UNAMSIL official said this was not the first confrontation between peacekeepers and the rebels. "Such incidents are often blown out of proportion," he said. "It is not in any way an indication that the peacekeeping process or disarmament could be hindered. I don't think we can conclude that there was a direct targeting of the UN troops." UNAMSIL has, however, protested against the incident in the "strongest possible terms" to Tejan Kabbah and to former AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koromah, who now heads the Commission for the Consolidation for Peace, a state body.