Good riddance! Chi Jaama Joe sambou >From: Musa Amadu Pembo <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: [log in to unmask] >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Fwd:Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone died Yesterday! >Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 18:06:42 +0100 > >30 July: Foday Saybana Sankoh, the once-feared rebel leader >who plunged his country into a decade of brutal civil war, >died in hospital late Tuesday of natural causes. He was 65. >Sankoh had been in detention since May 2000, after his >bodyguards opened fire on a crowd of protesters outside his >Freetown. More than 20 people died in the incident. Sankoh >had been in poor health since August 2002, when he suffered >a stroke which left him partially paralyzed. Following his >indictment last March for war crimes and crimes against >humanity, he was transferred to the custody of Sierra >Leone's Special Court. His condition continued to >deteriorate, however, and in late March he was transferred >to the Choithram Hospital for observation and treatment. In >recent months, Sankoh was said to be in a catatonic state, >unable to care for himself or to respond to his >environment. The rebel leader, once known simply as "Papay" >to his thousands of admiring young followers, died in >hospital at 10:40 p.m. Tuesday. A former corporal in the >Sierra Leone Army, Sankoh served with the 1960s-era U.N. >peacekeeping force in the Congo, and even did a brief >signals course in England. His military career ended >abruptly, however, when he was implicated in a coup attempt >against then-President Siaka Stevens. Cashiered from the >army, embittered and jobless after serving six years at >Pademba Road Prison, Sankoh made his living as a portrait >photographer in the eastern town of Segbwema. He later made >his way to Libya where, in the late 1980s, he is said to >have founded his rebel movement, the Revolutionary United >Front (RUF). It was while training in the Libyan camps that >Sankoh met another future rebel leader, now President of >Liberia Charles Taylor. Sankoh and his followers reportedly >fought alongside Taylor's NPFL in Liberia before launching >their own rebellion into eastern Sierra Leone in March >1991. Portrayed as fighting for Sierra Leone's dispossessed >rural population against a corrupt urban elite, Sankoh's >RUF soon acquired a reputation for unparalleled brutality, >often hacking off the limbs of those they believed to be >sympathetic to the government. In November 1996 Sankoh >signed a peace agreement in Abidjan, but soon abandoned it. >In early 1997 he travelled to Nigeria where he was detained >by the Nigerian authorities on weapons charges. Following >the military coup in May 1997, Sankoh was made the nominal >vice chairman of the AFRC, and ordered his followers to >join the junta. Following the AFRC's ouster in 1998 the >Nigerian authorities sent him back to Freetown, where he >was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. In March >1999, following the bloody rebel attack on Freetown, he was >released and sent to Togo to negotiate a ceasefire and >later a peace accord which would gave him control of a >commission overseeing the country's mineral resources and >the protocol rank of vice president. He returned to >Freetown in December 1999, but his cooperation with the >government lasted barely five months. Court officials said >Tuesday there would be a post mortem to establish the exact >cause of death. > >United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked the >Security Council to approve the immediate deployment of >Nigerian peacekeepers to Liberia, using logistics from >UNAMSIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone. In a >letter to the Council on Tuesday, Annan said he needed a >mandate to speed up the transfer of one, and possibly two, >battalions from Sierra Leone to Liberia. Annan asked the >Council to give UNAMSIL "the necessary mandate to use its >resources to provide full support for the deployment and >sustainment" of a vanguard peacekeeping force from the West >African regional body ECOWAS. In Monrovia, the Liberian >government rejected a LURD ceasefire which would have left >the rebel group in control of the capital city's port. >Rebel leaders said they would pull back to Freeport to >await the arrival of West African peacekeepers, and then >withdraw beyond the Po River. "(LURD) must release their >stranglehold on the city and that means withdrawing to the >positions they held prior to the June 17 ceasefire >agreement," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lewis >Brown told the Reuters news agency in Accra. Despite LURD's >announcement of a unilateral ceasefire, fighting between >government and rebel forces continued in the capital >Tuesday. In the east, government troops battled to >recapture the port city of Buchanan, which was overrun by >MODEL rebel forces on Monday. Because of the rebel attacks, >Liberian President Charles Taylor is reportedly >reconsidering his pledge to step down and leave the >country. Earlier this month, Taylor accepted an offer of >asylum in Nigeria which would shield him from war crimes >charges by the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. >Taylor insisted he would remain on until peacekeepers >arrived in his country. Now, according to the Reuters news >agency, his spokesman says he may decide not to leave after >all. "We are of a different opinion now in the government >about the validity of the overtures of the president to >step down," Vaani Passawe said. "So if you start hearing us >say differently, you shouldn't be surprised." Passawe said >Taylor's offer to go into exile had been interpreted by the >rebels as a sign of weakness. "In fact, it has escalated >the war," he said. > >29 July: The leader of Liberia's largest rebel group said >Tuesday his troops would break off their attack on Monrovia >and declare a unilateral ceasefire to allow West African >peacekeepers to intervene in the war-torn country. "We will >stop fighting until the peacekeepers arrive, unless >attacked by Taylor's forces," LURD leader Sekou Conneh >(pictured left) was quoted as saying. According to news >services, the rebels said they would pull back to Freeport, >where the peacekeepers are expected to deploy. Once the >force arrives, they would withdraw beyond the Po River, >about seven miles from the city. The announcement came >hours after Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji >(right) suggested in a BBC interview that no peacekeepers >would be sent until the fighting stopped and there was a >peace to keep. "Let them stop the fighting now," Adeniji >said. "Usually before you include peacekeepers into any >situation, fighting stops, and then the peacekeepers will >go in and make sure they separate the combatants to make >sure to make sure that the ceasefire is not violated, and >if violated, to be able to identify who's responsible for >the violation." Adeniji, who until recently served as the >United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative >in Sierra Leone, said there was also the question of >logistics and resources for the peacekeepers, which are >initially expected to be drawn from two Nigerian >battalions. "It's not enough for Nigeria to designate >troops, but these troops will have to make sure are going >to be properly supported," he said, adding: "That's where >the international community comes in." > >Fighting around the Liberian capital Monrovia this weekend >engulfed the Samukai refugee camp, which had been home to >more than 3,500 Sierra Leonean refugees, a spokesman for >the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. >UNHCR staff said large numbers of the refugees fled the >camp ahead of a rebel advance. Other reports, however, >allege that the rebels were expecting a government >counter-attack in the area, and advised the refugees and >Liberian residents to leave the area. Some of the refugees >at Samukai had been registered for an emergency sea >evacuation to Sierra Leone on July 20. Plans to take a >fifth shipload of evacuees to Sierra Leone had to be put on >hold when the latest round of fighting which broke out on >July 18 prevented the ship, the MV Overbeck, from docking >in Monrovia. The U.N.-chartered ship is standing by in >Freetown to resume evacuations once the security situation >allows. In its first four voyages, the Overbeck conducted >1,250 refugees to safety in Sierra Leone. > >West African security chiefs meeting in the Ghanaian >capital Accra say it is unlikely that regional peacekeeping >troops will be deployed immediately in Liberia, the BBC >reported. Two Nigerian infantry battalions, one just >finishing a tour of duty with the U.N. peacekeeping force >in Sierra Leone, had been tapped to be the vanguard of the >new ECOWAS force, ECOMIL. Officials said, however, that the >fighting between Liberian government and rebel forces was >preventing the regional body from sending even a >reconnaissance mission. MODEL rebels captured the Liberian >port city of Buchanan Monday, while LURD overran the >government stronghold of Gbarnga and continued their attack >Monrovia. Government forces were said to be mounting >counter-attacks on Tuesday in an effort to retake the two >towns. In London, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo told >the BBC his country was ready to send peacekeepers to >Liberia, but that Nigeria lacked the means to finance a >peacekeeping operation alone. "It is our problem, but it is >not our problem alone," he said. "It is in fact Africa's >problem and it is a world problem...(the troops) are not >there because we haven't got the capacity to do all that is >necessary, and we made that clear." Obasanjo said twelve >years of peacekeeping efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone >had cost his country $12 billion and more than 1,000 >Nigerian lives. A peacekeeping force in Liberia is expected >to cost over $100 million, and the Obasanjo said that so >far no country had stepped forward with the necessary >funds. "What we are saying is give us adequate material and >logistic support and we will do the job," he said. "We have >two battalions of over 1,500 ready to go in. We cannot do >that alone." > > > >__________________________________________________ >Yahoo! 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