SIERRA-LEONE’S president has urged his shattered nation to embrace national reconciliation and appealed to fighters from its civil war to halt atrocities against civilians. “Continued violations and abuses against innocent civilians are inimical to national reconciliation,” President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah told the nation in a broadcast message to mark the 39th anniversary of independence. Kabbah recalled that the United Nations, which is policing a peace deal to end eight years of civil war, had made clear that all reports of atrocities since the July 1999 signing of the deal should be investigated. “Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all those concerned to end these atrocities immediately,” he said, but he added that this was only part of the solution for a lasting peace.