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NGO leaders welcome rebel bosses’ return

Sierra Leonean civil society leaders on Monday welcomed the return to Freetown of Revolutionary United Front(RUF)leader Foday Sankoh and Johnny Paul Koroma, head of the former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC)junta.

The two men flew in from Monrovia on Sunday, nearly three months after the RUF and the government signed a peace accord in Lome.

“Their return is long overdue,” Zainab Bangura, coordinator of the non-governmental Campaign for Good Governance, told IRIN. “They contributed to the destruction of our country. They must now help us rebuild it.”

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared in a statement that Sunday was “indeed a great day for the people of Sierra Leone”. He said:

“By this symbolic occasion we have demonstrated to our people that the war is over.”


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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