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U.N. Trapped Troops in S. Leone Rescued
The 220 U.N. peacekeepers and 11 observers surrounded by Sierra Leone rebels since early May have been rescued and airlifted to the country's capital Freetown.
Reports reaching here from Freetown on Saturday said that the heavily armed peacekeepers participating in the rescuing operation met no resistance from the rebels.
"The U.N. peacekeeping team entered (the eastern town of) Kailahun at the position where the observers were encircled and walked them out," a U.N. spokeswoman was quoted as saying in Freetown on Saturday.
The 11 international military observers were then taken to Freetown by helicopters, she said. She said that the 220 Indian troops were also liberated and were now making their way by road to the areas controlled by the United Nations.
The troops had been detained in Kailahun since May after the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) broke a peace deal.
In the past two weeks, the rebels refused to allow the U.N. force in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to send food to the surrounded troops. Heavy rains had also limited the detained troops' ability to move.
"With a distress signal received from Kailahun, regarding the dwindling food and medical stocks, there was no alternative to a military action," according to a U.N. statement published on Saturday.
"The RUF's illegal actions, which have been universally condemned and for which appeals had been made by UNAMSIL to the RUF for quick resolution, yielded no results," the statement said.
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