FYI ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Copyright 1999 InterPress Service, all rights reserved. Worldwide distribution via the APC networks. *** 15-Dec-99 *** Title: POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Power Struggle Threatens Peace Accord By Lansana Fofana FREETOWN, DEC 15 (IPS) - A bitter power struggle within Sierra Leone's main rebel movement, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has threatened to derail the fragile peace accord signed in Lome, Togo, in July and plunge the West African country into chaos. The RUF leader Foday Sankoh, who is now a member of the broad- based government in Freetown and his battlefield commander Sam Bockarie, alias Mosquito have been trading verbal blows, signaling a new dimension to the country's eight-year-long civil conflict. Bockarie's latest complaints are that he is being marginalised by the RUF political leadership, which he accuses of plotting to murder him. The source of disagreement between the two rebel leaders is the issue of deployment of UN troops in rebel-controlled territories which Sankoh supports, but fiercely opposed by Bockarie. "I will not allow any Nigerian in the UN force to deploy in my territory. In fact, I want all Nigerians out of the country," Bockarie says, adding that: "As for the rest of the UN troops, we are ready to engage them if they attempt to use force in the disarmament exercise". Sankoh, on the other hand, has said: "The RUF is already co- operating with the Nigerians and other forces within the UN and (the West African peacekeeping force) ECOMOG and my combatants are prepared to disarm to them all in the name of peace." Sankoh dismissed Bockarie's ranting as "nonsense" and an impossible "adventurism." But the rift has grown beyond the internal dynamics of the RUF. Bockarie has demonstrated his frustration by abducting two expatriate medical personnel of the non-governmental organisation Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF), a Belgium and a French, in his highly militarised eastern border district of Kailahun, close to Liberia. The two aid workers, who were abducted last week, have still not been released and Bockarie says he wants the protection of the international community, from the wrath of Sankoh. The pro-RUF tabloid, 'The Pool', revealed Monday that a top level meeting of RUF commanders has resolved to dismiss Bockarie as field commander, whilst other publications suggest a grand plan by the mainstream RUF to murder the controversial RUF commander. In these circumstances, the deployment of newly arrived UN troops from Kenya and India has been delayed and there are growing fears that Bockarie might spring a surprise and launch fresh attacks, to disrupt the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) exercise. As agreed in the Lome peace accord, the 6,000-strong UN troops have started arriving in the country, with about 800 from Kenya and 140 from India. Another 1,300 from India are expected in coming days. The rest of the UN troops would be drawn from ECOMOG, which is dominated by Nigeria, and which helped protect the elected government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. Military analysts in Freetown have noted the importance of diamonds and agricultural produce like coffee and cocoa in the eastern provinces and the involvement of foreign mercenaries as being behind the unruly attitude of Commander Bockarie, who is said to be surrounded by such outside interests. "The RUF war is not just about control of state power," says a former lecturer of political science at the University of Sierra Leone. "It is a complex battle for diamonds, gold and agricultural produce which the rebels have been illegally mining and cultivating, and then smuggling abroad." In all of this, the war-weary Sierra Leoneans have borne the brunt, and are becoming increasingly apprehensive about the cloudy political atmosphere. Bockarie, who is said to be amassing troops, has boasted that he has the capacity to disrupt the whole peace process by renewing hostilities. These ranting have forced many potential investors to hold back their investment plans. There are growing fears that tensions within the RUF may explode and plunge the country back into anarchy. A western diplomat in Freetown told IPS: "I think that the moral guarantors of the peace accord must mount a diplomatic war to avert a situation that would reverse the gains so far made." Perhaps, it is this fluidity that has halted the return of tens of thousands of Sierra Leonean refugees in neighbouring countries and also hastened the exit of many who fear a resurgence of violence in the strife-torn West African nation.(END/IPS/lf/mn/99) Origin: Harare/POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE/ ---- [c] 1999, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS) All rights reserved ------- End of forwarded message ------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------