Sierra Leone gives office space to rebel army turned political party

The Government of Sierra Leone has handed over keys to an office building that will house the political party of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reported today.

According to UNAMSIL, the news was conveyed to a UNAMSIL radio station by Omrie Golley, a senior RUF official.

The transformation of the RUF into a political party was expected to have been discussed at the sixth meeting of the Joint Committee on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, a body that includes representatives from the Government of Sierra Leone, the RUF and UNAMSIL. The meeting was scheduled to take place today in Freetown.

In other news, UNAMSIL's Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Daniel I. Opande, yesterday visited new deployments of Pakistani and Zambian UN peacekeepers in the eastern districts of Kono and Kenema.

In Kono, Mr. Opande learned that although the security situation was relatively calm, there were problems associated with ongoing mining activities, indiscriminate possession of shotguns by the government-backed Civil Defence Force (CDF) and an inflow of returnees from neighbouring Guinea. In response, the Force Commander said it was the responsibility of the Government of Sierra Leone, and not UNAMSIL, to curtail mining in the area. He said Sierra Leone authorities, with the assistance of the Mission, would soon embark on a programme to collect all shotguns in the area.

The Force Commander also said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would soon open an office in Koidu to address the inflow of returnees in the area.

In Tongo, Mr. Opande learned that combatants were no longer carrying weapons in public. An RUF representative assured the Force Commander that he would continue to inform his supporters on the pending disarmament exercise in the area.