Ex-Leone junta leader appeals for Britons' release

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (Reuters) -- The leader of Sierra Leone's former military junta appealed to renegade soldiers on Friday to release six Britons they are holding and urged them to join the peace process.

Johnny Paul Koroma, who headed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta to which the captors claim allegiance, said the junta was a thing of the past and the West Side Boys militiamen should lay down their arms.

MESSAGE BOARD Crisis in Sierra Leone

"The AFRC no longer exists," Koroma told Reuters.

"In the interests of peace for our motherland, I appeal to so-called General Kallay and his West Side Boys to understand that the people of this country are fed up with war and they should immediately release the remaining British soldiers."

The West Side Boys captured 11 British troops along with one Sierra Leonean soldier a week ago in the Masiaka area, 75 km (47 miles) east of the capital Freetown. Five of the Britons were freed on Wednesday.

The group has been making various demands for the release of the Britons, including a longstanding request for adequate food and medicine, but also wants seats in a new government and the release of imprisoned comrades, including one who goes by the name of "Bomb Blast" or General Papa.

British officials said they had made no concessions to secure the release of the five Britons this week.

Koroma said a delegation of relatives of the militiamen had met the captors in the bush late on Wednesday to urge them to free the hostages.

"The relatives, about 10 of them, led by the mother of the West Side Boys' second commander, went into the jungle and spoke to them," Koroma told Reuters on Thursday.

One relative, who declined to be identified, told Reuters the delegation had offered the West Side Boys bread, sugar and powdered milk to give up their hostages, but no money.

"They assured us that they will soon come out of the bush after they release the remaining British hostages," the relative said.

About 400 British troops are in Sierra Leone to train a new army. The abducted soldiers are part of that mission.

The soldiers loyal to the junta, which ruled the country in 1997-98, have at various times fought with the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) against the government or with the government against the RUF.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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