U.N. Official, Rebel: Sierra Leone's Warring Parties Reach Peace Deal
AP 07-JUL-99
LOME, Togo (AP) -- Sierra Leone's warring sides reached a peace deal today to
end eight years of civil war in the West African nation, rebel and U.N. officials
said. The agreement came after the feared rebel movement backed down on key
demands, the sources said.
The accord was to be signed by Sierra Leone's President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah
and rebel Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh at a summit of regional
leaders in Togo's capital of Lome later today, U.N. envoy Francis Okello said.
A rebel official, who declined to be named, confirmed the deal. He said the
insurgents -- who have been seriously divided in the past -- were united behind
Sankoh, who approved the deal.
"Nobody rejects the leader's commands," the rebel official said. "We must have
peace for the country and we are going to give the nation peace."
Yet questions remained as to whether the agreement to formally end one of the
world's bloodiest conflicts would be accepted by Sierra Leonean fighters and
civilians.
The war has devastated the nation and forced up to half of its four million people
to flee their homes. Civilians and international human rights groups accuse the
rebels of systematically killing, mutilating and raping thousands of people in a bid to
gain power through terror. The exact death toll is not known.
An earlier peace deal in 1996 collapsed within months when rebel and military
forces toppled Kabbah's government in a coup. The bloodletting that followed
escalated to the highest levels since the war began in 1991. Kabbah was restored
to power last March after regional troops drove the junta from the capital.
The new agreement called for the rebels to be given a power-sharing role with
Kabbah's elected government, including four rebel Cabinet ministers' posts and
four deputies, said a U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
At the last minute, the insurgents had demanded six to eight ministers' posts, the
official said, but international mediators and the rebels' own allies, including
Liberia's President Charles Taylor, pressured them to back down.
The accord also provided for a "reprieve" from prosecution for rebels who
committed war crimes, the official added, although the conditions on the pardons
remained unclear.
Another key rebel demand, that Nigerian-led West African troops defending
Sierra Leone's government be excluded from a new peacekeeping force, was
dropped. The intervention force, known as ECOMOG, would remain in Sierra
Leone.
Mediator Joseph Koffigoh, Togo's foreign minister, said Taylor _ whose
government has been accused of providing weapons and troops to the rebels --
had pushed the insurgents to allow the ECOMOG forces to remain.
"Sierra Leoneans are tired of the war and the whole sub-region is fed up with the
fighting," Koffigoh said.
The Nigerian-led troops are the strongest military force backing Sierra Leone's
government. Besides Liberia, Burkina Faso has been accused of supplying troops
and weapons to the rebels.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was expected to pay a one-day visit to Sierra
Leone on Thursday in a bid to drum up international support for the peace process.
Along with Kabbah, Sankoh and Taylor, the presidents of Nigeria, Burkina Faso
and Togo also attended the summit.
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That's from cnn Custom News ... great service, they'll send you country- and subject-specific articles as they come out.
customnews.cnn.com
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