Rebel group agrees to tripartite meeting with UN, Freetown: UN mission

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) today said the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) had agreed to resume its participation in the tripartite meeting with the Sierra Leonean Government and the UN peacekeeping operation.

UNAMSIL said in a statement that the meeting, which is aimed at furthering the peace process in Sierra Leone, was scheduled to take place tomorrow in Makeni. The RUF had boycotted the previously scheduled tripartite meeting earlier this month following the Government's announcement that it would hold elections in May 2002.

In other news, UNAMSIL has begun deploying peacekeepers to the diamond-rich town of Tongo in the eastern district of Kenema, as part of its ongoing strategy to establish military presence throughout the country.

On 14 September, an advance party of two companies comprising more than 300 UN troops from Zambia was deployed in the area, which until recently had been a stronghold of the RUF. The remaining peacekeepers are expected to arrive within a week's time.