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SIERRA LEONE: Government forces plan to advance on Makeni
- Sierra Leone’s government forces plan to advance on Makeni in the
north and the diamond fields of Kono in the east after capturing the
northern town of Lunsar, news organisations reported a senior military
official as saying on Tuesday.

The army’s director of operations, Colonel Alfred Nelson-Williams,
said Sierra Leone Army (SLA) soldiers killed 30 rebels when they took
Lunsar on Monday but suffered no losses.

Presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Wednesday that
leaders from the West African Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
agreed at 28-29 May summit in Nigeria that the different rebel factions
should withdraw to the positions they held before the signing of the
ceasefire in May 1999.

“They were not in Kono at that time,” Kaikai said, adding that the
government’s present strategy was wholly defensive.

On Friday, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah said Sierra Leone would not
be secure until the diamond region was in government hands.

Kaikai also said that discussions, including security issues, were
taking place within the Commission for the Management of Strategic
Resources, National Reconstruction and Development on the steps
required to “reap the maximum of benefits from the diamond areas in
Sierra Leone”.

Meanwhile, no date has been set for the trial of Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh, “but he will be tried”, Kaikai
said.

SIERRA LEONE: Looking for an alternative to Sankoh

West African leaders have ruled out detained rebel chieftain Foday
Sankoh as a participant in any future, regionally brokered, peace
process in Sierra Leone, and the search is on for a credible
interlocutor from his Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

[See separate IRIN Focus titled 'SIERRA LEONE: IRIN Focus on the
peace process']

SIERRA LEONE: Russian helicopter squadron on standby

A Russian air force helicopter squadron can be fully deployed in two
weeks after the command has been given, the Russian news agency
Interfax reported the Ministry of Defence as saying on Tuesday.

A total of 106 Russian servicemen - 104 helicopter crew and
technicians and two military observers - will be sent to Sierra Leone
as part of the UN mission, the news agency reported the military as
saying.

The squadron includes four Mi-24 combat helicopters. Their crews,
who will carry arms and ammunition, will provide security for UN
personnel by accompanying land convoys, and carry out search and rescue
missions, patrols and reconnaissance flights, Interfax reported.

SIERRA LEONE: AI demands end to diamond trade

Amnesty International (AI) is demanding an end to the international
trade in diamonds from rebel-held areas of Sierra Leone, it said in a
news release on Wednesday.

“Governments, companies and trading bodies, particularly the Diamond
High Council based in Antwerp, Belgium, must take immediate steps to
prevent the trade in diamonds mined from areas of Sierra Leone
controlled by the RUF,” AI stated. It added that other major centres of
diamond operations including the UK, Israel and India, must take
similar steps.

Despite a UN arms embargo, there is evidence to suggest that
diamonds from Sierra Leone have been used to fund the transfer of
weapons to Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels from various
countries. This includes the transit through Liberia and Burkina Faso
of weapons from Ukraine and Bulgaria, AI said. Both countries have
denied links to the RUF.

In response to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s latest report on
Sierra Leone, the Security Council reminded all States of their
obligation to implement the arms embargo against the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF).

It also expressed its willingness to consider further measures to
strengthen the sanctions regime.

NIGERIA: Suspected rioters arraigned

Some 180 people arrested in two-days of riots last week in the
northern Nigerian city of Kaduna were arraigned on Tuesday, news
organisations reported.

No pleas were taken at the two magistrate courts but the accused
were indicted with criminal conspiracy, rioting, illegal possession of
locally made pistols, causing death and arson, ‘The Guardian’ newspaper
of Lagos reported. They have been remanded in prison until June when
their cases will be heard.

The two days of riots last week left more than 100 people dead,
according to various sources. Over 1,000 homes were razed, AFP
reported.

There had been no arraignments after a spate of sectarian riots in
Kaduna in February. “This time around, instant justice will be carried
out and those found guilty will be punished,” Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi,
the Kaduna State governor, was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the 12-hour curfew imposed last week in the city was
reduced on Tuesday to nine hours - from 22:00 to 07:00 hrs local time.

NIGERIA: Community condemns oil spill

Community leaders in southwest Nigerian state of Ondo have accused
“a major” oil company of causing an oil spill that has adversely
affected marine life and fishing activity in the state, ‘The Guardian’
newspaper reported on Wednesday.

They complained to the special adviser on petroleum to Ondo State
Governor Adebayo Adefarati that the oil company, which was operating
the Ewan field lying 1.5 km offshore, had also failed to report the
spill to the State Environmental Protection Agency, SEPA, the newspaper
said.

SEPA Director Sola Akintimehin told the newspaper that in 1998 it
took his agency three months to clean up a similar but smaller spill in
the same field.

AFRICA: Major changes needed, new World Bank report says

Sub-Saharan Africa could, under the right conditions, end the cycle
of missed opportunities and conflict that marred its prospects in the
second half of the 20th century, according to a new report, the World
Bank said on Wednesday.

The new World Bank report, ‘Can Africa Claim the 21st Century?’,
notes that while war and discord have renewed doubts about Africa’s
future, a more complex and encouraging reality is also unfolding.

It suggests that where countries, such as Mozambique and Ghana, have
made key economic reforms, liberalizing markets and trade, improving
economic management, and promoting private sector activity, growth and
personal incomes have risen and poverty has been reduced.

Elsewhere on the continent, there is also good news, it says:
Nigeria, for example, is rebuilding its economy and political system
after years of hardship, private investment has picked up, and more
effective regulation in key sectors such as opening up West Africa’s
airspace to competition will also help to galvanize economic
performance.

This item is delivered by the UN’s IRIN humanitarian information
unit (e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org; fax: +254 2 622129; Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN), but may not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.

The 23rd Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government
inched to a close Sunday in Abuja with Ghana’s President Jerry Rawlings
indicting his colleagues for the sub-region’s never-ending problems.

Perhaps, breaking protocol, Rawlings, using his huge frame and
eloquence to the limit, exposed the behind-the scenes infightings among
some of the presidents often witnessed during closed door meetings,
declaring most of them selfish and insensitive to the sufferings of
their peoples.

“I am sorry to say this in public,” he intoned.

“But my colleagues have not often shown honesty during our meetings
especially during discussions on the region’s civil wars as we are
witnessing in Sierra Leone.” This, he blamed on the suspicion that some
leaders would rather push their personal agenda than pursue the end of
civil strife in the sub-region and Sierra Leone in particular.

The regional leaders who listened to Rawlings’ chiding in discomfort,
kept shifting in their seats. But the coup leader turned politician
thundered on.

“Only last Saturday night, we witnessed hot exchanges between myself
and His Excellency, President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo as well as
President Charles Taylor of Liberia and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. In
the end, I was satisfied with this open exchange. It is to me, a sign
that a level of growth is being witnessed amongst leaders since they are
willing to tell each other their wrongs to their face.”

He said the 25 years of ECOWAS existence should not call for
merriment since the lives of innocent people, women and children had
been lost and continue to be lost in the sub-region’s war theatres.

Traditional dance music wafted through the auditorium of the ECOWAS
secretariat, venue of the summit as Rawlings turned his tirade on
Western countries and their African collaborators who collude to exploit
Africa.

He admonished the Western diplomats present at the venue to inform
their countries that Africans were tired of this injustice, and its
attendant problems.

Rawlings received sustained applause from the full house including
the leaders who had been at the receiving end of his sharp criticisms.
They rose and shook his hands as he returned to take his place at the
high table.

Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo had preceded Rawlings outbursts
with a welcome address which chronicled ECOWAS achievements with a
warning that West Africa remained threatened by underdevelopment,
disease, war and endless problems.

“The survival of ECOWAS where other regional organisations have
failed or simply died is enough reason for celebration,” said Obasanjo.
“Such a celebration is coming with another landmark event which is
Nigeria’s one-year-old return to popular democracy”.

The coming soon of the ECOWAS common passport, Obasanjo explained,
was a big show of unity in the sub-region and a sign of it’s readiness
to achieve social and economic integration.

“West Africans can now move freely according to the provisions of the
treaty establishing this travel document.” He also spoke about the
trans-regional highways running between Abuja in Nigeria and Nouakchott
in Mauritania. Another one would run from Dakar, Senegal to Ndjamena in
Chad.

“Our efforts to bring peace to Sierra Leone, hopefully, would soon
lead to the adoption of ECOMOG as a standing force to respond more
rapidly to future armed conflicts in the sub-region,” Obasanjo said.

The Nigerian leader recalled Nigeria’s past commitments to ECOWAS and
the maintenance of peace in West Africa. He pledged his country’s
continued support to its neighbours.

Highlighting West Africa’s continual problems, Obasanjo, whose
country houses the ECOWAS headquarters, insisted that the body’s past
achievements might count for nothing if it did not build on such
achievements.

The 25th anniversary of ECOWAS drew not only its member presidents
but also the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki and Joachim Chissano
of Mozambique who came as special guests. The Secretary General of the
Organisation of African Unity, Salim Ahmed Salim, urged West Africans to
pursue the current regional integration with guidelines from
globalisation which has proved to be beneficial.

Several other leaders, including current ECOWAS Chairman and
President of Mali, Omar Konare, Sierra Leone’s President Ahmad Tejan
Kabbah and his Liberian counterpart Charles Taylor, all sought an end to
the conflicts in the sub-region.

Revolutionary United Front rebels are
restricting the free movement of more than 250 UN peacekeepers from their camps,
a UN spokesman said Tuesday.

David Wimhurst said 224 of the soldiers from the Indian contingent were being
stopped from leaving their camps in Kailahun district near the Liberian border,
while another 23 Indian soldiers face a similar fate in the Quiver area, 320 km
east of Freetown.

Eleven UN observers are also being prevented from leaving rebel-held
Kailahum, Wimhurst said.

He told journalists the “stand-off” between the soldiers of the UN mission in
Sierra Leone and the rebels has been on-going for more than three weeks now.

“They are surrounded by RUF men, immobilised and restricted from moving
freely outside their camps,” Wimhurst said.

He rejected suggestions that the peacekeepers were being held hostage because
the UN has been able to re-supply them, hold “restricted communication” with
them while they still carry their weapons.

“The Indian peacekeepers are not held physically in detention as were the
just-released 500 men. It is just that their freedom of movement is restricted,”
Wimhurst said.

He said what UN mission wanted to see now was the lifting of the restriction
on the movement of its soldiers in the two areas as must be the case throughout
Sierra Leone.

“This situation is unacceptable and must come to an end,” Wimhurst
reiterated.

He added that the RUF action was “in violation” of the the July Lome accord,
which provided “unhindered and free movement” for the peacekeepers in Sierra
Leone.

He warned the RUF to realise that the taking of the 500 UN soldiers hostage
was an “untenable, foolish and ill-conceived adventure” which drew world-wide
condemnation, so the way forward is to co-operate with UN mission.

Meanwhile, Wimhurst said 200 members of the second Jordanian battalion and
152 men of the first contingent of the Bangladeshi battalion arrived Monday to
take up their assignment.

More troops are expected over the next few days, he added.

The new arrivals bring to 11,059 soldiers the current strength on the ground.
The authorised strength is 13,000.

What stuff are women made of? Don’t tell me it’s just the
biological make-up of the rib, the biblical right rib of Adam that beautifully,
nay mystically, became Eve. That allegorical allusion of the creation story
often makes men feel comfortable in the midst of women.

But no, our women of today are more than the ordinary off-springs of Eve;
they possess some elements that speak volumes of their seeming extra-ordinary
nature; that kind of stuff that would make emotional men green with envy for
lacking the guts to dip their hands where these women folk have found a pastime
in indulging; that type of stuff that sometimes go beyond the wedding oath of ”
for better of worse”.

When women become overwhelmed with the force of love, no lust, they don’t
listen. Yes, women don’t listen, they don’t hear anything that would distract
them from what they want and want to know about. Take the case of Lot’s wife.
(This is no Bible Sunday school lesson, please.) The Bible tells us that the
angels of the Lord told the righteous Lot to flee the unimaginable city of
Sodom and Gomorrah with his family because He, God, was about to destroy the
city with yellow rainfall and with burning fire stones.

The angels told Lot: “Don’t look back”. Nobody should look back once they
set off out of the city. Simple instruction, eh? But woman, they want to prove
things. Lot didn’t look back. His wife did. She was turned t a pillar of salt.
Woman. The daring stuff.

If women have any sense of history they would learn from this. They would
know that it never pays well to go against what everybody is against.

Everybody, in a limited degree, is against this man of a rebel leader, Foday
Sankoh. Haven’t heard about the out come of the voting by rebels in Makeni?
Rebels have voted against fighting for Sankoh. Yet, and suddenly, we have come
to know that Sankoh has a wife who would not even tell how long they had
wedded. Fatou Saybana Sankoh loves Sankoh. Or so she wants the world to fell.
They have become married for just “a while” and Fatou has found out that she
would not abandon her husband too soon. Is it for better or for worse? But does
she have guts? I don’t think so. If she had, let her come defend her DARLING
here. Let her try distinguish herself like Tina Musa, wife of the late Capt.
Solomon A. J. Musa. Tina has guts; that stuff that drives women crazy about
anything and everything.

You should remember Tina. Don’t you? She was in London when her husband, the
then Chief Secretary of State for the AFRC, fled Freetown like a frightened dog
with its tail between its legs, when the late Khobe descended on the city. It
was the end of a nine-month era of civil disobedience in the face of military
tyranny. But it was never the end of the love of Tina for her husband. What did
she do to show she really loved Musa? The lady flew from London, and via
Conakry, to the rocky mountains of Korobola in the remote suburb of Koinadugu
district, northern province. She slept in caves. Trekked in the rain. She
played herself up as a being in love with her man.

When push came to shove and Tina felt she’d had enough of bush life, she
gave herself up to Ecomog. She was helicoptered (accept the derivation) to
Freetown. In a press conference here, Tina stamped the love she bore for Musa.
In the full glare of cameras, Tina vaunted in the microphone: “Musa I love you.
Think of our children and come out of the bust.” This was a passionate plea
from a loving wife to a darling husband. Tina showed she loved Musa dearly.

But Fatou loves Sankoh daringly, not dearly. Those who hate Sankoh, hate him
passionately, not intimately. Those who love him, love him purposely. It is not
a question of who he is or what he is. It is a question of what gains they
would reap from the relationship. Taylor loves, or do we say treasure Sankoh,
purposely because Sankoh is the sponge he’s using to soak up the diamonds from
Sierra Leone. For Taylor, Sankoh is an effigy of a revolutionary that he could
twist and turn to get Sierra Leone ever chaotic.

A chaotic Sierra Leone with heartless Sankoh squealing for unreasonable
reasons to a weak and indecisive President Kabbah is what serves Taylor well.
He loves and believes in Sankoh not because he feels Sankoh will make an
admirable head of state, but because he knows Sankoh is obsessed with getting
rich immorally and inhumanly.

Call it material love. Diamond love. That’s it. The sense of wanting all at
a go, of becoming rich over night. This is what Fatou is manifesting. The love
and lust for wealth.

Who’s she, by the way? Nobody, not even Josephine- who has been answering
the name of Sankoh’s wife here in Freetown, ever knew about the existence of
Fatou as a wife of the RUF leader. All that had been given out for public
consumption about this woman is that she had tripped into Freetown on several
occasions whenever she was broke. Another of the cheeks you come across by the
way, with no admirable profile, I suppose. The type Atomic Pen, former Editor
of Concord Times could want to call “Sugar-ant” woman.

She’s, as such, one reliable conduit for the siphoning of our diamonds to
beyond banks. Clearly Fatou has shown herself as one that had partaken of the
broad daylight cannibalism, which has left Sierra Leone with many skeletons,
many parentless kids, many amputees, many shattered homes and many and many and
many. This is to be charitable; otherwise Fatou is the worse form of genie in
womanhood that is painting democracy and free choice with the brush of self-
aggrandizement. The bad stuff coming out of America.

America is the acclaimed father of humanity. Her citizens have all,
supposedly, internalized the right to freedom of choice, freedom of all things,
including freedom of exploitation. That is it- exploitation. So are you still
in doubt over why Fatou is exploiting the situation? She is eager to get
herself the legal right to Sankoh’s many bank accounts? She is desperate to
help conclude the arrangements Sankoh had entered into with many foreign
companies in South Africa, Togo, and you name them.

Consider this: she is currently in South Africa on a mission that she could
dish out to the public. Like husband, like wife- Sankoh went to South Africa
officially on medical grounds, but ended up selling diamonds and entering into
negotiations with some business partners over diamond mining concession. Who
knows whether Fatou is out there to carry forward these business talks, carding
in the game that what has happened with Sankoh is only temporal? But Fatou said
she’s a lawyer and is ready to defend her husband. Right. Let her come. Come to
your darling’s home and do that. She doesn’t have to go through the rigours of
thronging her way in the bushes like Tina did; she only needs to come to
Freetown to expedient the process of putting Sankoh on trial. Americans know
that it is unlawful to keep someone in custody for twenty-four hours without
charging him to court. Sankoh certainly needs a container of legal luminaries,
the kind of wing-wearers that would not distinguish between moral justice and
jungle justice. For any lawyer that is worthy of his salt would know Sankoh is
what he is- a murderer, a tyrant, a public thief. But Fatou should show up as
the leading defence counselor in Sankoh’s case.

Fatou is free to come to Freetown to make a case for her so-called husband.

Perhaps she would also learn how to battle with the souls of the peace
demonstrators that were murdered in the instruction of Sankoh, her daring
husband. She will know what it takes to fight against the souls of innocent
people killed for selfish reasons. Then she’ll know that love stops where laws
begin.

South African authorities are now desperate to expel wife of
disgraced rebel leader, Foday Sankoh who entered South Africa weekend on a US
passport.

Pretoria can still not fathom what Fatou Sankoh came to do in South Africa.
But Concord Times can offer a clue: Fatou had merely gone to transact diamonds
deals.

Fatou, who claimed to be Sankoh’s wife - never mind this has been dismissed
as spurious by Sankoh’s aids - has been effective running diamond errands for
the rebel leader, Concord Times can authoritatively reveal.

Fatou is a lawyer who has enormous influence over the rebel leader. Since
Sankoh’s escape and subsequent arrest, she has been campaigning in the US for
his release calling the wide range allegations of human rights abuses committed
by Sankoh as “tabloid sensationalism.”

Yesterday, she challenged the South African authorities to get her out if
they could. Pretoria is now seeking clarifications from the UN on whether she
is affected by the travel ban imposed on key elements within the rebel
movement.

Fatou is a new comer and her name is most likely not among those
blacklisted. Strict adherence to legalism could see Fatou remaining to do her
job there.

However, South African foreign affairs policy makers believe her continued
stay could impact negatively on the country’s image since Sankoh’s notoriety
has attracted world attention.

In February, South Africa expelled Foday Sankoh after he entered South
Africa in defiance of UN travel restrictions imposed on the RUF leadership.

Ecowas has set up a committee to visit rebel-held town of Kono
and other diamond-rich towns under rebel control.

The mission of this committee would be to evaluate the extent of rebel
exploitation of the gems. The Sierra Leone delegation led by President Kabbah
had informed the leaders that rebels were frantically mining in Kono.

Pictures of rebel mining activities had been published on the internet.

Kono is very dear to the rebels and it is not known whether they will allow
Ecowas committee to visit the town.

The visit of this committee to Kono may have been a middle-of-the-road
compromise between government and Ecowas leaders. Government had earlier
insisted that rebels must vacate the economic areas before any talk of a
ceasefire.

It is likely a ceasefire will be called before rebels vacate the town.
Concord Times gathered that Ecowas leaders want to see a speedy deployment of
UN troops in Kono.

The is the basis for the call for a change of Unamsil mandate. The idea is
to forcefully deploy if the rebels would not cooperate. President Kabbah will
have to explain to Sierra Leoneans the rationale behind the Ecowas resolutions.
Most Sierra Leoneans want Sankoh tried, convicted and sentence carried out.

The mood is also that Kono must be retaken from them by all means. The
capture of Lunsar last Monday and the cracks in the ranks of the RUF now make
this task easy.

A lull in fighting could enable the rebels to regroup once more.

For the first time, former RUF Field Commander, Gen. Sam Mosquito
Bockarie has revealed what he has been doing in Liberia since he and a number
of his supporters were forced into exile in Liberia last December after he
publicly broke from RUF leader Foday Sankoh and accused Sankoh of trying to
have him killed.

In an interview with the Washington Post last week, Bockarie said he has
been working as an unofficial security advisor to Liberian President Charles
Taylor, reports Sierra Leone web.

He said he has control over about 2000 RUF fighters some of whom have been
integrated into Anti-Terrorist Unit of Mr. Charles Taylor. He said other RUF
fighters were training for a return to Sierra Leone. “I am confused and getting
angry…You cannot keep a man like me in an indefinite situation,” Bockarie
said.

In an effort to clarify his own role, he told the Washington Post, “I am
preparing a document for Taylor’s attention.”

This confirms speculations that Mosquito has indeed been training
dissidents.

Although the 2000 fighters were said to be members of the Anti Terrorist
Unit, many of them have been funneled into Sierra Leone to help prop up the RUF
in defence of Kono. (See Concord Times yesterday.) Maskita appears very angry
at the moment, even with Taylor and he says he is hungry to get back to Sierra
Leone.

Sankoh It has now been confirmed that RUF leader, Foday Sankoh,
will not be taken out of Sierra Leone contrary to earlier announcement that the
RUF leader would be taken to another country for security reasons.

Competent diplomatic sources had informed Concord Times that Sankoh would
have been taken to Nigeria.

Fears were also raised that a rougue country like Liberia could be given the
task to habour Sankoh.

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria was said to have insisted that Sankoh
be punished for taking the whole world for a ride and for extending the misery
of Sierra Leoneans by his intransigence. Some Nigerian soldiers have also been
killed - in Port Loko and around Rogberi junction - something which has fuelled
the anger of Obasanjo.

Consequently, a diplomat told Concord Times, “if Sankoh had been taken to
Nigeria, he should not have expected to be welcomed with open hands.”

Government moved fast to prevent an agreement that Sankoh be moved to
another country even though President Taylor had campaigned for this.

West African leaders reinstated their call for the Unamsil mandate to change
from peacekeeping to peace enforcement and insisted a West African be made to
head such a force.

Other highlights of the communique include; The need for a ceasefire. To
this end, before Ecowas can fix a ceasefire date, they agreed that a committee
of six comprising Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Togo as well as
Ecowas Executive Secretary will be sent to Sierra Leone.

The RUF was asked to voluntarily disarm.

While welcoming the release of the 500 UN soldiers, the sub-regional leaders
insisted on the full implementation of the Lome Peace Accord. They agreed a
3,000-troop strength increase for Unamsil

We know little or nothing about Mohamed Kuyateh and his lowly
Wisdom Newspaper he ran. All what we fathom is that, this 36-year-old African is
a journalist by profession trying to eke his living in a war-torn nation.
Something bad happened on Monday May 8th 2000 and then the whole local politics
was changed when peace protestors demonstrated in front of the home of the rebel
leader Foday Sankoh.

Letters, documents, photos, diaries, receipts and maybe pants and bras were
discovered in the home of Sankoh. At State House, the country’s Information and
Justice Ministers Julius Spencer and Solomon Berewa said some of the documents
bore the names of Parliamentarians and Paramount Chiefs.

Kuyateh’s name was also among the documents and so he was picked up for
“questioning” by the Police. He has spent 17 days now in Police custody while
big wigs whose names were also found in Sankoh’s documents still roam the
streets of Freetown.

This is not a free legal exercise for the incarcerated journalist neither do
we condone whatever criminal act he may have committed. What we are saying is
simply this, If Kuyateh is being held for having his name in a dubious document
then the parliamentarians, paramount chiefs, etc, are also to be held for
“questioning”.

If not the government has some explanation to do.

The United Nations has no faith in the leader of the Revolutionary
United Front, Foday Sankoh for any future peace negotiation. UN Mission
spokesman in Freetown, David Wimhurst told newsmen that the UN no longer
considered Sankoh a “credible” peace negotiating partner.

Wimhurst said RUF names have come forward as negotiators, UNAMSIL claimed to
have had “direct contact” with some senior RUF commanders. Last week in a
similar mode, President Ahmad Tejan Kabba in a nationwide address said if Sankoh
is found wanting for some criminal charges he will have to be excluded from the
peace process.

He said there are some senior members in the RUF who are interested in peace.
Sankoh also faces trial for treason and murder