SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS "CONTINUING DELIBERATE ATTACKS" ON UN PERSONNEL IN SIERRA LEONE
Press Release
SG/SM/7378
AFR/223
SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS CONTINUING DELIBERATE ATTACKS ON UN PERSONNEL IN SIERRA LEONE
20000503The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General expresses his outrage at the continuing deliberate attacks on United Nations personnel in Sierra Leone by armed groups and individuals belonging to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Four soldiers from the Kenyan battalion of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) have lost their lives, while three others at least have been injured. A large number of UNAMSIL personnel are still being detained by RUF elements or are unaccounted for.
The leader of the RUF, Foday Sankoh, is responsible for their actions. He has ignored repeated appeals by UNAMSIL to stop these attacks. The Secretary- General demands the immediate cessation of such hostile acts, and condemns in the strongest terms this flagrant violation by Mr. Sankoh and the RUF of the Lomé Agreement and other related undertakings by the RUF. The Secretary-General believes that all those responsible for this unacceptable and criminal behaviour, especially leaders with authority, must be held accountable for their actions.
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