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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Secretary-General calls for urgent international action to save Sierra Leone

2 February 1999

Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku said today that firm and unequivocal action was needed urgently from the international community to end the tragedy in Sierra Leone. He said the country was heading towards a barbaric Dark Age and it could not be left to a few neighbouring countries to defend it.

He said:

Sierra Leone faces a tragedy unprecedented in its history and horrendous even by the standards of a world increasingly inured to the brutalities of war. The entire population of Sierra Leone, without exception, is at the mercy of a murderous rebel war machine which makes no distinction between women and children on the one hand and combatants on the other. The escalation in the amputation of limbs and other bestialities, to say nothing of the almost random mass killings of defenceless civilians, point to a Dark Age threatening to overtake Sierra Leone. The vaunted scorched-earth policy launched by the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) has left Sierra Leone's infrastructure in ruins and thousands of homes in Freetown and elsewhere in the country burnt and razed to the ground.

The Commonwealth and the wider international community have remained unwavering in their support for the democratically elected Government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. But, while every opportunity for genuine negotiations must continue to be explored, the time has now come for firm and unequivocal actions in support of that Government. The defence of Sierra Leone cannot and should not be left to the unaided efforts of a few of its neighbours. ECOMOG, the West African intervention force, desperately needs material and logistical support to discharge its mission fully and effectively. The Government's need for assistance, financial and otherwise, is no less pressing.

But beyond urgent assistance, the international community needs to send out two clear messages: the one to the governments known to be arming and supplying the rebels that there is a price to be paid for subverting the peace and stability of Sierra Leone; the other to the rebels that they will not be allowed to shoot and mutilate their way to power in Freetown. In Sierra Leone, no less than in Kosovo, the sentience of the world community faces its sternest test.

Issued by the Information and Public Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat,
Marlborough House,
Pall Mall,
London SW1Y 5HX,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 0207-839 3411;
Fax: 0207-839 9081;
Telex: 27678

99/08 2 February 1998

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ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6385/6 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081
Email: info@commonwealth.int