OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.30am.
AUTHORITIES have begun investigating a visit to South Africa by the wife of captured Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh.
The Foreign Ministry is seeking clarification from the United Nations on whether Fatou Sankoh, who entered South Africa on a US passport, was affected by UN travel restrictions on her husband, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad.
Newspapers reported that Fatou Sankoh arrived at the weekend from the United States, where she has been living for the previous 10 days. Foday Sankoh, who heads the Revolutionary United Front, is forbidden to travel outside Sierra Leone.
”We are obviously investigating this matter. We will be getting in touch with the United Nations to see whether she is affected by the sanctions,” Pahad said.
In February, South Africa expelled Foday Sankoh after he entered South Africa in defiance of UN travel restrictions imposed on the RUF leadership.
Sankoh is under arrest after his rebels, who last year signed a peace accord with the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, triggered a fresh crisis this month by abducting hundreds of UN peacekeepers. Kabbah plans to try Sankoh for alleged atrocities committed since an amnesty granted under the peace accord. — Reuters