I just culled piece from the Washington Post. It is a bit long but quite
interesting.

Enjoy!




By Douglas   Farah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, September 10, 2000; Page A01

    FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, Sept. 9    The U.N. peacekeeping mission in
Sierra   Leone, the largest such operation in the world, has become paralyzed
by   infighting among its top officials and has failed to halt new waves of
human   rights violations--including abductions and rapes--by the country's
armed   factions.
    The deep divisions in the U.N. mission were described in interviews with
 diplomats and U.N. officials in Freetown, the capital, and dramatized in an
 unusually blunt and angry memo written by Maj. Gen. Vijay K. Jetley, the
Indian   commander of the 13,000 U.N. troops dispatched to bring peace to
this badly   bruised West African country.
    In bitter terms, Jetley accused his deputy commander, Gen. Mohammed
Garba,   and the U.N. secretary general's special representative, Oluyemi
Adeniji, both   of whom are Nigerian, of undermining the U.N. mission and of
insubordination. He   also alleged that Nigerian officers had secret contacts
with the main Sierra   Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF), which, he implied, led   them to profit from the illegal diamond trade.
    In his memorandum, which has circulated among diplomats here, Jetley
wrote   that Adeniji and Garba believe "keeping the Nigerian interests was
paramount   even if it meant scuttling the peace process." Jetley also wrote
that the   "Nigerian army was interested in staying in Sierra Leone due to
the massive   benefits they were getting from the illegal diamond mining" and
that Adeniji and   Garba "have worked hard to sabotage the peace process and
show Indians in   general and me in particular in a poor light."
    The two officers denied the charges. But the memo, which Jetley has   ackn
owledged as authentic, has so divided the U.N. leaders here that they barely
 speak to each other and give conflicting commands, leaving the mission
adrift in   recent months, U.N. officials and diplomats said.
    As a result of the lack of direction, they said, the force is stationed
almost exclusively in a few heavily armed camps near the country's main
cities   of Freetown, Bo and Kenema, with a few battalions stationed along
the main   east-west highway from Kenema to Freetown. To the dismay of
residents here, U.N.   forces rarely patrol beyond their bases, and the
Kenema-Freetown highway has   been closed down repeatedly in the past week by
armed groups who rob and kidnap   travelers at illegal roadblocks. The road
is vital to keeping the capital region   supplied with food and the eastern
region supplied with fuel and other   goods.
    "We have tanks, we have six helicopter gunships, we have 13,000 troops,
and   we can't keep one main highway open," said a U.N. military observer.
"We don't   fly our helicopters, we don't patrol, and the troops sleep at
checkpoints, where   everyone can see them. If we can't even open the road,
then what are we doing   here?"
    That is a question that is increasingly being asked by the government,   d
iplomats and U.N. officials about the $1.5 million-a-day mission.
    U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has said repeatedly that the Sierra
Leone   mission is a test of the United Nations's ability to deal with
challenges in the   new millennium. And improving peacekeeping missions was a
focus of the heads of   state who met at U.N. headquarters for the Millennium
Summit this week.
    But conditions here seem far removed from the lofty goals proclaimed in
New   York.
    The Sierra Leone mission was humiliated this summer when RUF rebels
captured   500 armed peacekeepers, along with more than a dozen armored
personnel carriers,   hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of
ammunition. The hostages were   eventually freed, and Adeniji said the United
Nations learned several lessons   from the crisis.
    "We have come to realize the sedate atmosphere for classic peacekeeping
didn't exist and doesn't exist," Adeniji said in an interview. "We misjudged
 fundamentally in the way we deployed. We were easy targets. We are trying to
  tighten things up internally, and things will improve. The secretary
general is   aware there is no way we can make do with 13,000 troops, so he
is recommending   increasing the force level to 20,000."
    With the additional troops, Adeniji and others said, the United Nations
could   begin to redeploy across the country, including many bases that have
been   abandoned since the summer crisis.
    The mission here began following a peace agreement signed July 7, 1999,
between the government and the RUF that was to end nine years of civil war   d
uring which the RUF kidnapped thousands of children and turned them into   com
batants, carried out systematic rape of women and hacked off the arms and   le
gs of hundreds of civilians. The agreement called for the RUF to disarm in   e
xchange for a share of political power, but the rebels refused to do so in   d
iamond mining regions. In May, they began taking U.N. peacekeepers hostage
and   plunged the country back into civil war.
    The war, according to intelligence and military sources, is currently in
a   lull because of heavy rains and the fact that the army and the RUF have
run   short of food and ammunition and are waiting to be resupplied.
Intelligence   sources and relief workers said almost all RUF raids in recent
weeks have been   aimed at gathering food because rebel troops are going
hungry.
    But Corrine Dufka of the New York-based group Human Rights Watch and
other   human rights workers said that the human rights situation has
deteriorated   greatly since the May U.N. crisis and that the most common
abuses are   kidnappings and rapes by the RUF and various pro-government
militia groups. Many   of the reported incidents occur along the
Kenema-Freetown highway that U.N.   forces have been unable to clear of armed
gangs.
    The U.N. force, called UNAMSIL, was brought in to replace a Nigerian-led
West   African force that fought the RUF during the war. But several Nigerian
  battalions stayed on as part of the U.N. mission. U.N. officials said that
from   the beginning, the Nigerian government and military wanted a Nigerian
to command   UNAMSIL, but agreed to an Indian commander in exchange for a
Nigerian deputy and   a Nigerian to represent the secretary general.
    Coupled with the personality conflicts that arose between Jetley and the
 Nigerian contingent, that tension set the stage for the current split, U.N.
 officials said.
    But other rifts hamper the mission as well. When the U.N. contingent
began to   crumble this summer, Britain, the former colonial power here,
dispatched some   1,000 troops to help drive the RUF back. About 200 British
troops remain to   train government troops, and British officers hold senior
advisory positions in   the Defense Ministry.
    While the United Nations is anxious to reestablish a peace process that
would   include the RUF, British officials acknowledge that they want to see
the RUF   defeated.
    This rift has grown since 11 British military trainers and a Sierra
Leonean   soldier were taken hostage late last month by a militia called the
West Side   Boys. The gang, known for heavy drinking, lack of discipline and
use of   amphetamines, until recently had been fighting against the RUF on
behalf of the   government.
    While the West Side Boys released five hostages last week, they continue
to   hold the others and issue endless demands: a share of government power,
 scholarships to study abroad, amnesty, freedom for two of their captured   co
mmanders and integration into the army.
    The area where the British were kidnapped is controlled by a Jordanian
U.N.   battalion based in the strategic crossroads of Masiaka. Before the
kidnapping,   there were numerous witness accounts and written intelligence
reports that the   West Side Boys were setting up roadblocks, abducting
civilians and robbing buses   along the main highway from Masiaka to
Freetown. Nevertheless, U.N. officials   acknowledged, the Jordanian troops
were providing the gang with fuel, food and   medicine.
    According to witness accounts to human rights groups and written
intelligence   reports to U.N. officials, many of the incidents took place
within a few hundred   yards of Jordanian checkpoints and well within areas
they were supposed to be   patrolling.
    The U.N. spokeswoman here, Hirut Befecadu, said that while such incidents
may   have occurred, they did not occur within sight of the Jordanians. She
stressed   that U.N. forces are there to preserve peace, "not wage war
against anyone." She   said that the gifts were necessary to build confidence
and that as a result of   contacts with the Jordanians, more than 200 members
of the group have   demobilized.
    But the fraternization has angered the British. Tensions have risen
further   since new intelligence reports that the West Side Boys in recent
days have been   allowed to pass through the Jordanian checkpoints in the
very vehicles they   stole from the kidnapped British troops.
    Garba, the deputy U.N. commander, said in an interview that under the
U.N.   mandate here, the Jordanian battalion is only compelled to act if
civilian lives   or they themselves are threatened.
    "The Jordanians believe the West Side Boys are just like other militias
within the borders of Sierra Leone that are not for now forced to disarm
because   disarmament is voluntary," Garba said, indicating that although he
could order   the Jordanians to be aggressive, he has no plans to do so.

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