SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT ON SIERRA LEONE
Press Release
SG/SM/6998
AFR/143
SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT ON SIERRA LEONE
19990519 The following statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan concerning the Sierra Leone ceasefire was issued today by his Spokesman:Yesterday, 18 May, President Kabbah of Sierra Leone and Corporal Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), signed a ceasefire agreement in Lomé, Togo. The agreement commits both sides to observe a ceasefire from 24 May. On the following day, 25 May, the Government of Sierra Leone will commence discussions in Lomé with the RUF delegation on a possible peace agreement.
The ceasefire agreement provides for guarantees of safe and unhindered humanitarian access to populations in need and the immediate release of all prisoners of war and non-combatants. The parties have also agreed to request the United Nations, subject to Security Council authorization, to deploy military observers as soon as possible to observe compliance with the agreement.
I welcome the signing of the ceasefire agreement, which will help create an atmosphere conducive to the success of the peace talks to begin on 25 May. I call on the RUF, the Civil Defence Forces, the Government and the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) to adhere strictly to its terms. I congratulate the signatories: President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), who hosted the talks; the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the United States Presidential Special Envoy for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa, who witnessed the signing; and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), whose representative also attended. My appreciation also goes to my Special Representative for Sierra Leone, Francis Okelo, and to the staff of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), who did so much behind the scenes to make the drafting and signing of the agreement possible.
I now intend to initiate immediate measures to strengthen UNOMSIL to play its role in implementing the agreement. The Secretariat is sending a military assessment team to Sierra Leone to draw up plans for an expanded presence, which we would then submit to the Security Council for approval in the event of a lasting peace agreement between the Government and the RUF.
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