UN Secretary-General Annan Visits S.LeoneThe United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan has pledged that the international community would work together with the Sierra Leonean government to secure the long-awaited peace in the west African country, according to information reaching in Lagos on Saturday.Speaking after his arrival in the capital Freetown of the war- torn country, Annan said that the people of Sierra Leone have suffered too much from the civil war and deserve the lasting peace in the country. Annan, accompanied by his new Under Secretary-General for peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno of France, was currently visiting Sierra Leone on his ten-day African tour, which would also take him to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. Peace could be secured in Sierra Leone if its government, people and the international community work together to cement the cease-fire agreement signed last month in Nigerian capital Abuja, said the UN Chief. During his stay in Sierra Leone, Annan was expected to hold talks with President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, visit the troubled UN peacekeeping force and make a tour to a demobilization camp, which houses hundreds of the former rebel fighters. Annan's visit came one-day after the talks on Friday at Mile 91 east of Freetown between the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone and the rebel Revolutionary United Front on the deployment of UN peacekeepers in rebel-held areas. |
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