Two encouraging articles on Sierra Leone [SL news urls in referring post].
Diamondworks doesn't have much happening in SL lately, but Koidu is a major kimberlite, ready to go, and indications of conditions under which they could start up K [the rainy season should be over soon, maybe the war season as well], added to the success story out of Angola, might just pull some interest into the stock ...
... which has already clearly, imho, begun its way north -
chart.canada-stockwatch.com
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Sierra Leone Rebel Leaders Bury Differences
MONROVIA, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's main rebel leaders, Foday
Sankoh and Johnny Paul Koroma, buried their differences on Saturday and
prepared to head home to implement a peace deal.
"We have now agreed that enough time has been wasted and it's high time that
we return home and put this process on the road," former military ruler Koroma
said before leaving Liberia after two days of talks with Sankoh.
"We were able to clear any misunderstandings or disagreements that were
impeding the ongoing peace process," Koroma told a joint briefing, which
started late and delayed their departure for Sierra Leone's capital Freetown.
Sankoh, who took up arms in 1991, said there had been internal problems but
that they had put these behind them.
"We are going to Freetown to help consolidate the peace and contribute to the
transformation of our society," he added. His military commander Sam Bockarie
attended the ceremony.
Koroma's supporters are former soldiers who toppled elected President Ahmad
Tejan Kabbah in 1997. Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels
rallied to the coup.
A Nigerian-led West African intervention force ousted Koroma's Armed Forces
Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and reinstated Kabbah in March last year.
Koroma loyalists took Western hostages in August saying he was being held
prisoner by Bockarie and complaining that they felt sidelined by a July 7 peace
deal signed in Togo by Kabbah and Sankoh. Koroma later denied being held.
REBELS REAFFIRM ALLIANCE
Koroma paid tribute to the role of Liberia's president, Charles Taylor, himself a
former civil war faction leader.
"The success of this meeting has greatly strengthened the alliance between the
AFRC and the RUF in Sierra Leone. We believe that this alliance is not only
good but also very necessary for our people and peace in Sierra Leone," he
said.
"Foday Sankoh and myself have agreed that there will be no more war in Sierra
Leone. The war is now over and it is now time to jaw-jaw," he added.
Earlier, Koroma's supporters told reporters at Okra Hills on the main road from
Freetown to the interior that they were committed to the peace process. They
said they would disarm if their leaders ordered them to.
Under the peace deal, the rebels won seats in government. Sankoh, who had a
death sentence for treason lifted, becomes head of a minerals commission, with
the rank of vice-president.
It is a challenging appointment as his rebels have been busily mining and selling
diamonds, the impoverished country's main source of foreign exchange, from
areas that they control.
Koroma's role remains unclear.
Liberia's Taylor has close ties with the rebels. Regional diplomats say he helped
Sankoh to set up the RUF to destabilise rivals in his own civil war which ended
with 1997 multi-party elections. Taylor won those elections.
"This region is now on the road to peace and progress," Taylor said, adding that
Liberia was considering reopening its border with Sierra Leone. The border has
been closed for more than four months.
Taylor said Liberia would also work to end tension with Guinea. The neighbours
have been at odds over border incursions. "Our three countries are inextricably
yoked," Taylor said.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [second article] -
Ecomog to Start Disarmament Exercise in S. Leone
LAGOS (Oct. 2) XINHUA - The west African peace-keeping force of
ECOMOG has ordered all representatives of the factors involved in Sierra
Leone's crisis out of the capital Freetown for one week to enable them start
disarmament exercise in the country.
ECOMOG Field Commander Gabriel Kpamber said in a statement that
ECOMOG is demanding free and safe access to every part of the country under
the control of the rebels, The Post Express newspaper reported Saturday.
"This should be done with a view to paving a way for immediate construction of
arms collection sites and demobilization centers in designated locations all over
Sierra Leone, " the statement said.
According to Kpamber, the rebel leaders are expected in the west African
country within one week period to provide details of their troops strength,
locations as well as the positions and descriptions of all known and unexploded
bombs, explosive devices, mine fields and all other military hazards as demanded
by the peace agreement signed in the Togolese capital of Lome in July.
The statement noted that the rebels must release all "abductees or detainees" still
in the custody of the ex-combatants without delay.
The statement reiterated ECOMOG's "irrevocable commitment to the foregoing
measures, as a way of facilitating the implementation of the peace agreement in
Sierra Leone."
It was reported that leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Foday
Sankoh and other rebel leaders are expected to arrive in Freetown on Saturday
for the first time over one year. |
