ECOMOG, the Nigerian-led intervention force fighting rebels in Sierra Leone, on Thursday began to clear a stretch of highway linking the Freetown peninsula to the eastern interior. With the recapture last Friday of Songo, a town 45km east of the capital, Ecomog troops have begun moving along the volatile road toward Masiaka, where rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) continue to be active, the force’s chief of staff, Major-General John Olu said. *
Meanwhile, a RUF spokesman said on Thursday that countless civilians who died in an attack outside Freetown last week were killed by pro-government air raids and not rebel forces. “I have spoken to every military officer in the bush and I can categorically tell you that we are not responsible for these deaths,” RUF spokesman Omrie Golley said.