From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#4 (April 1999), Watch page

SIERRA LEONE
Conflict demands international attention, says James Jonah

The conflict in Sierra Leone is not just internal but a regional problem that demands the attention of the Security Council and other members of the international community, said Mr. James Jonah, Sierra Leone's finance minister and a former UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, at a press conference held at UN headquarters on 29 January.

Mr. Jonah urged Security Council members and other major powers to address the crisis in Sierra Leone with urgency. "You cannot pursue rogue states in the Middle East and in Europe and not pursue rogue states in Africa," he said, adding that the international community and the Security Council "must be more even-handed in dealing with this crisis."

Accusing Liberia and Burkina Faso of providing economic and organizational means for the recent rebel invasion of Freetown, Mr. Jonah asked the Security Council to make clear that it would not tolerate the intervention of these countries in the conflict. He also accused Liberia of assisting the rebels by providing military training and refuge.

Freetown was devastated by intense fighting in early 1999 between the RUF and the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). More than 3,000 lives have been lost since the renewal of the rebel offensive last December, and many more people have been maimed in atrocities committed by rebel fighters.

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