We Are Sorry, Say Sierra Leone Leaders

The Nation (Nairobi)
May 23, 2000
By Eric Shimoli And Reuters

Nairobi - The government of Sierra Leone has apologised to Kenya for the killing and kidnapping of Kenyan soldiers by rebels. President Ahmed Tejan Kabah, Foreign Minister Sama Bapya and former Sierra Leone President John Paul Koroma all said they regretted the murder and hostage-taking of Kenyan peacekeepers.

At least one soldier died and three are classed missing in action. President Kabah said he had personally apologised to President Moi in a letter sent earlier this month. He was speaking while meeting the group of Kenyan MPs on a fact finding mission to the West African nation.

The group is led by Cabinet Minister Julius ole Sunkuli and the Deputy Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Daniel Opande. The team was scheduled to meet jailed rebel leader Mr. Foday Sankoh later in the day.

Mr. Korona said the peace accord was shaky and the mandate of the peacekeepeers should be expanded to provide security to the soldiers. He spoke as it was announced that at least half a dozen bodies wearing UN uniforms had been found today, raising fears that the dead might have been peacekeepers attacked or taken hostage by the rebels.

Government forces and freelance British cameraman Paul Barnett found the bodies just north of Rogberi Junction, a vital crossroads on the main highway between Port Loko and Lunsar, about 87 km northeast of the capital, Freetown.

Mr. David Wimhurst, spokesman for the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, viewed film footage of the bodies and acknowledged that circumstantial evidence indicated they might be peacekeepers, but he said more investigation was needed.

"There are U.N. emblems on the uniforms attached to the bodies and there are blue helmets on the scene," he said.

"But we also know that our uniforms were taken by the Revolutionary United Front, so it makes identification at this point very difficult."

Meanwhile, Kenyan soldiers freed yesterday told of their two weeks in captivity.

They had survived on bananas, mangoes and guavas. They were not personally threatened with violence but they were stripped of their clothes and all their documents, including their passports.

Six of the 10 were interviewed at the Kenyan military camp in Lungi, near Freetown.

They wore desert military clothes and sandles.

Three of them were injured when their armed personnel carrier ran off a bridge.

Snr Private Silas Gitahi said they were kept in very bad conditions.

"At times we survived on one banana a day," he said.

The rebels did not provide any medical care to the soldiers who were detained in a house, said Private Gitahi. "We were transported by cars for 100 kilometres after which we were made to walk 10 kilometres to the Liberian border to be freed," he said.

Corporal Ahmed Hasian was with Private Gitahi when their armed personnel carrier crashed at the bridge.

"We pleaded with them not to kill us and they accepted that and took us prisoner," he said.

They were captured on May 9.