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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Douglas V. Fant who wrote (10986)	6/2/1999 10:10:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 17770

Atrocities Reported in Sierra Leone Wednesday, 2 June 1999 F R E E T O W N , S I E R R A L E O N E (AP) A WEEK into Sierra Leone peace talks, an international relief group on Wednesday reported a new wave of mutilations and killings of innocent civilians in the war-battered West African country. In a statement received here, Doctors Without Borders said that since late April more than 170 people were operated on for war-related injuries by doctors in a hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital. Of those, 56 were recently wounded. Most were civilians and many were women and children who had their hands or legs cut off by machete-wielding fighters or suffered serious cutlass and gunshot wounds. The government allies have accused the rebels of making territorial advances, violating a cease-fire agreement that began a day before the talks. The government allies have accused the rebels of making territorial advances, violating a cease-fire agreement that began a day before the talks. Rebels denied the charge, saying neither side was making advances. The aid group, which says the war had prevented relief workers from reaching most parts of the country, believes that many, many more have been killed or injured and unable to get help. "There has been a marked increase in the number of civilians presenting themselves at the hospital having been deliberately mutilated," the aid group's spokeswoman Polly Markandya said. Many of the victims who arrived in Freetown were unable to identify their assailants, but others said they were victims of rebel fighters. Although the accounts could not be independently confirmed, they follow the same grisly pattern of atrocities blamed by witnesses and U.N. observers on rebel attackers over the past year. Sierra Leone's rebel movement, the Revolutionary United Front, has fought an eight-year war for power in this lush West African country. The fighting took tens of thousands of lives before peace talks began between government and rebel teams last week. The rebels have been accused by the U.N. and international governments of a methodical campaign of atrocities in their bid to topple Sierra Leone's president and wreak terror among innocent civilians by indiscriminately gang raping, cutting of limbs and killing. At least 5,000 people were killed during the rebels' latest attack in January on the capital.