SECRETARY-GENERAL, EXPRESSING DEEP CONCERN, URGES IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF UN AND OTHER PERSONNEL DETAINED BY ARMED GROUP IN SIERRA LEONE
Press Release
SG/SM/7089
AFR/162
SECRETARY-GENERAL, EXPRESSING DEEP CONCERN, URGES IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF UN AND OTHER PERSONNEL DETAINED BY ARMED GROUP IN SIERRA LEONE
19990805 This is the text of a statement today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at the detention, at Ocra Hills on 4 August, by an armed Sierra Leonean group of United Nations military observers and civilian personnel, the Nigerian troops of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG), who escorted them, as well as local journalists.
The Secretary-General deplores this serious incident and urges the armed group to release all detainees immediately and without any conditions. He also calls on the Government of Sierra Leone and RUF leader Foday Sankoh, as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its military group ECOMOG, to do their utmost to seek the earliest release of all detained personnel and to ensure the safety and security of all international staff assisting the Sierra Leonean people to implement the Lomé peace agreement.
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