Sierra Leone
UN to downscale its Sierra Leone mission

afrol News, 13 September - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the mission to Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) be "adjusted and eventually downsized" as the first step towards a gradual handover of security and other responsibilities to the country's government. UNAMSIL is the largest peacekeeping mission in the UN's history, totalling almost 18,000 members at its biggest.

Kofi Annan made his recommendation noting that Sierra Leone was making "steady and remarkable" progress in a number of important areas. The situation in the country was generally peaceful after the end of ten years of an extraordinarily brutal civil war last year.

The recommendations were presented in Mr Annan's latest report to the UN Security Council on the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), in which he also commends Freetown for taking steps to deploy its police and army, hold general elections and establish a truth and reconciliation commission as well as a special war crimes court to address past human rights abuses.

These encouraging developments, Mr Annan writes, "along with the steady improvement in the security situation in Sierra Leone," had created new circumstances in the country that made it possible to consider beginning the drawdown of UNAMSIL, with the ultimate objective being a gradual, phased and deliberate transfer of responsibility for the country's security from the Mission to the government.

Under the Secretary-General's proposal, which he recommends the Council approve, the Mission's military component would be reduced from its current strength of some 17,000 UN peacekeepers to about 5,000 by late 2004 before settling on 2,000 troops, depending on need at that time. 

Meanwhile, the number of civilian police would be increased to about 185, mostly to help with training at Sierra Leone's police force, according to Mr Annan's recommendations. There would also be a reduction in the UN's civilian presence.

- The beginning of the drawdown of UNAMSIL will take the Mission into the final phase of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone, which is recognisably one of the most difficult aspects of such operations, Mr. Annan observed.

On this basis, he was recommending another six-month extension of the Mission's mandate. "Its outcome will be critical in determining whether the efforts of the international community in the country over the past few years can be considered a durable success," he added.

Mr Annan has earlier called on the international community to "stay the course" in Sierra Leone. He also demands that the country's authorities "must deliver the peace dividend to the people and address not only the consequences of the war, but also its root causes, including corruption, human rights abuses, highly centralised government structures and neglect of the developmental needs of the population in the provinces." 

Liberia cause of concern
In the meantime, the UN Secretary-General said he remains deeply concerned about the conflict in neighbouring Liberia, warning that without the engagement of the international community, it could escalate further and jeopardize the progress achieved in Sierra Leone and destabilise the wider Mano River subregion (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone).

- A possible prolonged stalemate in the conflict would have equally tragic consequences for the people of Liberia, Annan cautions, calling for urgent international action in response.

Also the Sierra Leonean government shares these concerns. The country's President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, according to another UN source, had written to Mr Annan, saying the downscaling of UNAMSIL "should be linked to... the fragile political and security situation in Liberia and the repercussions for peace and stability in the region."

Sources: Based on UN sources and afrol archives

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