OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Thursday 5.30pm
CLASHES between former rebels and their ex-junta allies in a northern Sierra Leonean town have left dozens of civilians dead and caused many residents to flee the area, local media said on Thursday.
This comes a day after a symbolic ceremony to mark the start of disarmament in Sierra Leone. Journalists arriving in the capital said rebels from the Revolutionary United Front and their erstwhile allies from an ousted junta clashed in the city of Makeni, some 140 kilometres north of Freetown, at the weekend.
The independent daily Concord Times said “civilians ran in all directions, houses were set on fire and innocent lives were lost before the dust settled.” Two other newspapers, The New Storm and the The New Citizen, reported that residents were forced to flee the town and its surrounding area. The reports said fighting between the former allies began on Friday and were continuing on Monday.
Earlier reports from commuters said the rebels had overtaken a military barracks on the outskirts of the town, forcing the ex-junta to flee the base. On Tuesday, the spokesman for the Nigerian-led Ecomog intervention force, Chris Olukolade, said “skirmishes have taken place but there has been no full-scale combat.”
On Monday United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met rebel leader Foday Sankoh and former military ruler Johnny Paul Koroma together in Freetown on Monday and urged them to cooperate for peace.