If peace talks are unsuccessful, Sierra Leone’s capital could suffer new rebel assaults, reports Peter Moszynski from Freetown
The beleaguered capital of Sierra Leone is waiting in trepidation for the outcome of peace talks in Togo next week with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels whose offensive devastated Freetown in January.
Unless the talks succeed, the city could be laid open within weeks to a new rebel assault. The Nigerians, who make up 90% of Ecomog, the West African military force bolstering the government, say they want to pull out of Sierra Leone before June. So while the government talks, it is also rebuilding its army with British and Nigerian help.
The capital has been starting to recover from the ferocious rebel assault three months ago. Operation Burn Freetown came close to success before Ecomog managed to repel the attackers. Thousands of civilians were killed and thousands more had limbs cut off.
Freetown now contains 300 000 refugees, 15 000 amputees, 2 500 lost or abandoned children and hundreds of demobilised child soldiers. Most of the rest of the country is in rebel hands.
But signs of normalisation appeared this month with the return of a few diplomats and international aid staff. The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) is helping to reunite families. A local radio station broadcasts appeals for parents to come forward when children are identified.
The city’s stadium houses thousands of children, among them former child soldiers and girls who have been raped by the rebels. One member of the UN’s staff described how, after his daughter and family were captured by the RUF, he was told by a rebel officer: “Either you go and leave the girl behind, or I will kill all of them before your eyes.”
Although his daughter was released unharmed, more than 2 000 young girls have been raped.
Another significant step towards normality has been the replacement of the Kamajor militia by civil police at many road junctions. Most of Freetown’s police were massacred by rebels in the January attack, and an urgent recruitment drive is now being held.
The Kamajors, dressed in outlandish costumes and believing themselves to be invulnerable to bullets, are now mostly at the front line, currently about 30km east of Freetown.
Sierra Leone’s former army, which sided with the RUF, was demobilised by Ecomog last year when it returned the democratically elected president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, to power after he was overthrown by the military.
In an effort to rebuild the army, 500 officer cadets have been sent for training in Nigeria, while the rest of the 5 000-strong army is being trained locally by Nigerian and British soldiers. Britain has donated $16- million, conditional on Kabbah pursuing “a twin-track political and military solution” to the conflict.
The detained rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, is to be allowed to travel to Togo for consultations before the peace talks. Sankoh, convicted of treason and mass murder last year, has urged his forces to talk peace.
Kabbah hopes that Sankoh’s release will be enough to secure a ceasefire by April 27 – Sierra Leone’s independence day. If the peace talks fail and the Nigerians leave, there will be little to keep the rebels at bay.