Another strong run with associated proift-taking!!!! Seems we may be bottomed in the mid-1.20's.
on the news front: from the Globe and Mail
Sierra Leone rebels set peace terms
Jailed warlord outlines conditions for ceasefire
as aid agencies warn of humanitarian disaster in Freetown
Wednesday, January 13, 1999
AFP and Reuters
Cokary, Guinea -- Diplomatic efforts intensified yesterday to end a conflict that has nearly destroyed the Sierra
Leonean capital, as aid agencies warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe for the city's residents.
Sierra Leone's detained rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, is willing to agree to a ceasefire if he is set free and his
Revolutionary United Front is officially recognized, a senior United Nations official said.
Mr. Sankoh, condemned to death last October on treason charges, set the terms in secret talks yesterday in
neighbouring Guinea, where he was taken in his prison uniform.
"He is 100-per-cent committed to peace. He is willing to order a ceasefire and he recognizes the legitimacy of
President [Ahmad Tejan] Kabbah," said UN representative Francis Okelo, who attended the three-hour talks between
Mr. Sankoh and West African foreign ministers. Mr. Okelo said the talks had the full support of the UN.
The meeting was held amid warnings from aid agencies that Freetown residents, cut off from water, fresh food supplies
and electricity for the seventh consecutive day, could face starvation if hostilities continue.
"The situation is quite terrifying for civilians," said Kris Janowski, a UN refugee agency spokesman in Geneva. "A
humanitarian disaster is looming in the capital unless some kind of ceasefire is arranged and humanitarian supplies can
be brought in. . . . People are holed up, and are not in a position to move out of their homes, let alone flee the capital."
The International Committee of the Red Cross has called on all combatants to allow humanitarian relief work to
proceed.
Much of the capital lay in ruins yesterday, after countless houses and buildings were set ablaze.
Witnesses fleeing rebel-held areas of the city said bodies littered the streets of eastern Freetown and rebels were
burning houses and cars as they retreated before the West African intervention force, known as ECOMOG.
"The rebels are burning and destroying everything in sight as they retreat -- cars, buildings, everything. As we were
walking back we saw lots of bodies in the streets -- civilian and military," said Josephine Garnem, a 25-year-old hotel
worker.
Smoke columns billowed up on the eastern horizon yesterday and the sound of sporadic artillery fire was heard.
In front of the Cape Sierra, the only functioning hotel in Freetown, hungry and exhausted residents from neighbouring
Aberdeen defied a stay-at-home order to beg for food.
Some scrambled for palm kernels from trees or combed the nearby beach for anything to eat.
"We haven't eaten in seven days," said an elderly man, picking up dried up coconut fruits. "We are dying here. We
need help."
Freetown's population is believed to have ballooned to about one million because of migration from the dangerous
countryside since Sierra Leone's civil war began in 1991.
Despite the diplomatic initiative, the ministers have made no contact so far with Sam Bockarie, the rebel deputy leader,
who is commanding troops on the ground.
Mr. Bockarie vowed yesterday to continue the armed struggle until Mr. Sankoh is released.
"We want our leader to be freed. We want to meet him on neutral ground," he said, adding, "I am carrying his orders."
Mr. Bockarie rejected Mr. Sankoh's call broadcast on Freetown radio last week urging rebels to respect a ceasefire.
Instead, he called for a general offensive on the city.
Mr. Bockarie renewed his vow yesterday to attack the Lungi international airport with missiles he said were seized
from a Guinean contingent backing up Nigerian-led ECOMOG intervention troops.
Mr. Bockarie also said his men had captured about 300 Nigerian troops, many of them "lieutenants and captains."
ECOMOG and Sierra Leonean authorities said retreating rebels torched the State House, a hospital, the central
telephone exchange, the government wharf and the UN military observer mission.
|
