S. Leonean Rebels Hope to Set up Interim All-party Government

The major rebel group in Sierra Leone Tuesday said they had appealed to the presidents of Nigeria and Mali to press President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to establish an interim all-party government at the end of the present government' s tenure.

The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) wanted a national conference and then an interim transitional government to arrange general elections after Kabbah's mandate expires on September 26, RUF spokesman Gibril Massaquoi was quoted as saying by a report reaching here from Freetown.

Massaquoi and other RUF senior members Monday met Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Malian counterpart Alpha Oumar Konare in the diamond-rich Kono district, the former RUF stronghold during the more than 10-year-long civil war.

Kabbah's mandate from a 1996 election was earlier this year extended once for six months by parliament, citing the insecure situation in the country. Earlier in July, the government of Kabbah implied that it wanted another six-month extension of its valid term, thereby postponing the proposed elections to the middle of next year.

But, RUF rebels and opposition parties urged Kabbah to step down when his mandate expires this month, saying that the establishment of a transitional government would help supervise the disarmament program and oversee the forthcoming elections.

At the invitation of Oluyemi Adeniji, special representative of the United Nations Secretary General, Obasanjo and Konare who is also chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (

ECOWAS), were accompanied by Kabbah to see the progress that has been made regarding the peace process in the war-torn west African country.

After they held discussions with RUF rebels and traditional leaders, including paramount chiefs from the Kono district, Obasanjo and Konare both welcomed recent progress in the peace process.

On the contrary, Massaquoi complained about the government troops' presence in the northern Koinadugu district, and blamed pro-government militia for violating the ceasefire and harassing RUF politicians and activists in the area.

He warned that the RUF could still bring the peace process to a standstill if its request can not been satisfied, but added that the rebels are not going to fight any longer.

"Our people want peace, they don't want war anymore", he said.

The civil war between the RUF and the successive governments in the war-torn country since 1991 has witnessed tens of thousands of civilians mutilated, raped or displaced.

As the largest U.N. peacekeeping force in the world, the U.N. mission in Sierra Leone, which the Security Council has agreed to increase to 17,500 troops from a strength of 12,000, is trying to strengthen its deployment aimed at reaching lasting peace in the West African country.






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