The Guardian is reputed
by the capitalist
media to be leftist..
but the following
excerpt from their
paper sounds more
like a press release
of Cecil Rhodes:
How many British soldiers are in Sierra Leone?
The initial British presence has shrunk to 335. The UN has 17,500, the world's largest peacekeeping force. After its timely intervention, British soldiers whipped government troops into shape and provided a crucial psychological presence as UN peacekeepers restored peace and stability. The army and police are in effect under British control, while Whitehall has seconded civil servants to a host of ministries. The country has become one of the world's largest per capita aid recipients.
Why did the UN intervene?
The UN sent in a 11,000-strong force following a peace accord signed in Lome July 1999, between the RUF and President Kabbah. Mr Sankoh was brought into the government as vice president, despite the atrocious record of the RUF.
The UN mounted its biggest peacekeeping operation in years to oversee the disarmament of government and rebel forces. But the process broke down as UN forces moved into the diamond mining areas held by the rebels. They refused to give up control of the diamond areas and the peace process collapsed. That's when Britain stepped in.
Who were the RUF?
Mr Sankoh formed the RUF in 1991, together with a handful of fellow Libyan-trained cadres who had emerged from the radical student movement in Sierra Leone.
They launched an insurrection against the corrupt military-backed regimes that had run the country for most of its existence following independence from Britain in the early 1960s. The insurrection developed into one of the most vicious civil wars in Africa.
How bad was it?
While the uprising may have had respectable aims initially, it attracted numerous youths who saw the movement as a means to get rich. Rebel gangs such as the West Side Boys adopted horrific methods to terrorise the population: hacking off civilians' limbs; and abducting, raping and killing much of the younger rural generation. Estimates of the death toll run as high as 200,000.
Were there problems with the UN presence?
In May 2000, the then UN force commander in Sierra Leone launched an extraordinary attack on the Nigerian presence in the UN force. Major General Vijay Jetley accused top Nigerian officials in Freetown of "working hard to sabotage the peace process", and the Nigerian army command of looting diamonds in league with Mr Sankoh.
General Vijay Jetley's leaked report was a huge embarrassment to the UN. But the subsequent success has proved a big morale booster to the organisation, following debacles in Bosnia and Rwanda.
Special report
Sierra Leone
