Call for Sierra Leone action

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- An international think tank has called for military action to be used to defeat Sierra Leone rebels and end the civil war.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) had broken peace agreements, obstructed U.N. operations and still occupied half the country.

The comments came as the commander of a British force responsible for training the Sierra Leone army said the African nation's soldiers were now capable of defeating the rebels.

"The government and the RUF signed an agreement that obliges the RUF to disarm and to allow Sierra Leone government authority to be established throughout the country," Brigadier Jonathan Riley said.

"If the RUF will not abide (by that) the government of Sierra Leone now has a military which is capable of defeating the RUF in the field."

Britain intervened in its former West African colony last May after the rebels defied a peace deal and took hostage hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers. After helping restore order, the British stayed on to train the new army.

The RUF said last week they wanted to end the war and allow full U.N. deployment, even to its eastern diamond-mining heartland.

The U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), the world's biggest current peacekeeping force, have begun to redeploy to rebel areas from which they were forced last year.

But the ICG argued in a new report that the RUF has no popular following and has consistently used negotiations and ceasefires to rearm and mobilise.

"There should be no further negotiations with the RUF other than for its complete disarmament and demobilisation," the report said.

"Those in the RUF who refuse to demobilise should be defeated militarily. The military option could be spearheaded by UK-trained and led Sierra Leone armed forces, with UNAMSIL securing the areas regained."

Reuters contributed to this report.

UNAMSIL
Sierra Leone Government
Sierra Leone Web
Revolutionary United Front
Economic Community of West African States

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