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U.S. Welcomes Arrest of Sierra Leone's Rebel Leader
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Wednesday welcomed the arrest of Sierra Leone's rebel leader Foday Sankoh.
"Today we had some good news that Foday Sankoh has in fact been captured," Albright told a Congressional panel.
Reports said that Sankoh was arrested late Tuesday in the capital Freetown. He was first taken to the compound of former military ruler Johnny Paul Koroma and then transferred to Cockerill Barracks.
With criticism worldwide of U.S. reluctance to take action against the rebels' taking hostages of U.N. peacekeepers, Albright made some complaints before the panel that it was Congress that was obstructing attempts to restore order in Sierra Leone.
She said the Clinton administration would invite "both congressional and public support for doing our job in Sierra Leone." Earlier in the day, a State Department spokesman said that U.S. presidential envoy Jesse Jackson would leave late Wednesday on a peace mission to West Africa.
"His mission is ...to reinforce U.S. support for their initiatives to help the United Nations secure the release of the U.N. hostages and resolve the crisis in Sierra Leone," he said. He added that Jackson, once in West Africa, will consult regional government on the crisis in Sierra Leone.
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