Freetown | Monday
MORE than 1_000 combattants fighting in Sierra Leone’s protracted civil war laid down their weapons in the single largest day of disarmament in the key district of Kono, a United Nations official said on Sunday.
Patrick Coker, acting spokesman for UNAMSIL, the UN mission in Sierra Leone, said a total of 1_088 rebels and members of a state-backed civil militia had disarmed in the diamond-rich district on Friday.
”This is the largest number so far and it is impressive and shows that remarkable progress is being made,” he said, adding that another 319 fighters had disarmed on Saturday, of whom 163 were rebels and the rest militiamen.
”With Saturday’s disarmament, a total of 4_499 people have laid down arms in Kono,” since disarmament began on July 2, Coker said.
Kono was until recently a rebel stronghold, some 250km east of the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown. According to the UN, there are about 5_000 combattants in Kono.
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group is widely accused of mining so-called ”blood diamonds” in Kono to fund their 10-year campaign of terror and bloodshed.
The RUF and the CDF recently agreed to lift all checkpoints in Kono and to stop mining diamonds but the mining ban has not yet been implemented.
The rebel insurgency, which started in 1991, has seen tens of thousands of civilians killed, savagely mutilated, raped or displaced.
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battalion of Pakistani troops was deployed on Sunday in the eastern Sierra Leone town of Koidu in the diamond-rich Kono district, a UN spokesman said.
Major Mohammed Yerima, military spokesman of the UN mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), said on Sunday that a full battalion ”is now fully deployed” in Koidu, located in Kono which was until recently a rebel stronghold.
Military sources said more than 400 Pakistani soldiers arrived in the town on Sunday, taking the total number of Pakistani peacekeepers in the area to about 800 — the size of a battalion.
Witnesses said their arrival early on Sunday was marked by a spontaneous and stirring welcome from civilians.
”It was like a carnival as villagers and ex-combatants beat tom toms and blew flutes amidst shouts of peace is here at last,” a witness said.
Pakistan is scheduled to send a total of 4_000 troops to Sierra Leone, permitting the 12_000-strong UNAMSIL to reach the 17_500-level authorized by the UN Security Council on March 30.
The reinforcement should allow the UN force — embarrassed last year when the rebels took peacekeepers hostage — to deploy in lucrative diamond-producing zones controlled by the rebels. – AFP
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Sierra Leone’s rebels put down weapons May 29, 2001
600 soldiers disarmed in Sierra Leone May 22, 2001
Sierra Leone foes agree to end hostilities May 16, 2001
Sierra Leonean rebels protest govt attack May 15, 2001
Blood diamonds still flow from Sierra Leone April 10, 2001