Security Council Meets on Sierra LeoneThe UN Security Council Tuesday began a closed-door session to discuss the latest situation in Sierra Leone, the war-torn country representing a big test for the UN peacekeeping operations.The council meeting came three days after the Sierra Leonean government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) signed a cease-fire agreement in the Nigerian capital of Abuja to revive the deadlocked peace process in the West African country. The United Nations is seeking more troop contributions to fill in the positions to be left by Indians and Jordanians, who are to finish the withdrawal from the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) by the end of the year. According to the agreement, both parties reaffirmed their determination and commitment to the Lome Peace Accord of July 1999 as the framework for the restoration of genuine and lasting peace, stability and security in the African country. They also agreed to refrain from committing any act or carrying out any activity that might constitute or facilitate a violation of the cease-fire. In his November 7 report to the 15-nation council, UN Secretary -General Kofi Annan said, "It is imperative that the withdrawal of their (Indian and Jordanian) contingents, the scheduled rotation of other contingents, and the deployment of additional troops be conducted in a manner which leaves no security gap in Sierra Leone." "It would be necessary therefore to overlap the deployment of incoming and outgoing units, which may entail a temporary increase in the short term of the mission's troop strength over the authorized level of 13,000 military personnel," he said. RUF rebels have taken more than 500 UN soldiers hostage and seized a lot of UN military equipment in May this year, dealing a heavy blow to the UN peace operations in the West African country. The decisions by India and Jordan to pull out their troops from the UNAMSIL have made it even harder for the UN mission to carry out its mandate in the West African country as Annan recommended the increase of the mission size to 20,500. |
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