BRITISH Royal Engineers have defused a 112.5 kilogram bomb in the northern Sierra Leonean town of Kambia, state radio reported on Thursday. The bomb was discovered by the Sierra Leone army in Kambia, about 80 kilometres north of Freetown, after the town was evacuated by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels following a disarmament pact. The radio report said “the bomb has been lying undisturbed for a number of years.” The commander of the British Forces in Sierra Leone, Brigadier Nick Parker, said the engineers had “achieved a brilliant feat”. Last month, British bomb experts and Sierra Leonean soldiers defused 13 bombs in the northwestern Port Loko district. Sierra Leone’s RUF rebel group and the state-backed Civil Defence Forces, made up of traditional Kamajor hunters, have been disarming in Port Loko and Kambia following a peace agreement two weeks ago. -AFP
Wednesday June 6, 2001