PETER CUNLIFFE-JONES, Freetown | Friday 9.40am.
GOVERNMENT forces in Sierra Leone have sent reinforcements to the strategic town of Lunsar, near Freetown, reclaimed earlier in the week by rebels, as fighting resumed ahead of a pull-out by 800 British troops.
The rebel Revolutionary United Front lost control of Lunsar on Monday but regained the town on Tuesday after the government troops reportedly ran out of ammunition and food.
The sudden capture and loss of Lunsar highlights the organisational problems of the government forces struggling to keep at bay the RUF rebels who have been fighting different governments here since 1990.
A senior Sierra Leonean military officer said however the government is confident it will soon recapture the town which lies within the eastern region of the country and has long been a rebel stronghold. “We are certain we can take back Lunsar shortly,” a commanding officer said.
In Freetown AFP saw two trucks packed with troops apparently heading out of the city for the Lunsar region. The fighting came just two weeks before British troops are due to pull of Sierra Leone after a six week intervention to strengthen security here.
No firm date has been set for the British to leave but preparations are already well underway for a mid-June pull-out, British military officials said.
Meanwhile, a team of senior UN officials is due in Freetown on Friday to look at ways of repairing the troubled peacekeeping mission in the country which has been thrown into crisis after it plunged back into civil war last month. — AFP
01