ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SIERRA LEONE - 8 JULY
Press Release
SG/T/2190
ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SIERRA LEONE - 8 JULY
19990713 On the morning of 8 July, the Secretary-General flew from Senegal to Sierra Leone where he was met at the airport by Deputy Foreign Minister Sahr Matturi and other government officials. At the airport, he also was briefed on the post peace accord situation in the country by his Special Representative Francis Okelo, and by the Chief Military Observer of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), Brigadier General Subhash C. Joshi. Representatives of United Nations agencies in the country talked of their efforts to resume humanitarian assistance countrywide, in the wake of the peace agreement signed yesterday between the Government and the Revolutionary United Front.The Secretary-General and his party then flew by United Nations helicopter to the Presidential Lodge on a hilltop overlooking Freetown, where he discussed implementation of the peace plan and post-conflict rebuilding with President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
He then explored the military situation in the country with Major General Felix Mujak Peruo, the Force Commander of the peacekeeping force of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The Secretary-General and President Kabbah then met one-on-one before a luncheon hosted by the President.
At a press conference with the President after lunch, the Secretary- General asked, "Who can forget the brutal amputation of limbs that went on here?" He described the agreement of 7 July as "an important step for peace" and added "we all have come together" to implement it. He called for the international donor community to be generous saying, "I hope that donors will give willingly, bearing in mind how much the people in this country have suffered."
After a brief visit in the headquarters of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, during which his wife, Nane, met privately with victims of rape, the Secretary-General and his party toured the eastern part of Freetown, ravaged by the fighting, and visited a rehabilitation centre for amputees who were victims of war.
At mid-afternoon, he flew to Liberia where he met with President Charles Taylor. After a dinner hosted by the President, he flew to Conakry, Guinea.
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