The United Nations said today that its
peacekeepers had been able to establish UN's first presence in a long time
in a rebel-held area in the eastern part of Sierra Leone.
A reconnaissance mission comprising
five military observers and a platoon of Kenyan peacekeeping troops has
just returned to the capital, Freetown, from Koidu, a rebel stronghold
in the heart of the diamond zone, a UN spokeswoman told the press at UN
Headquarters in New York. Marie Okabe said that according to reports, crowds
were cheering the convoy, whose task was primarily to assess the condition
of the road.
At a rebel roadblock about 75 miles from Koidu, the UN peacekeepers were blocked, Ms Okabe said. In order not to cancel the patrol altogether, the military observers and an information officer went alone to visit the town, marking the first time in years that the UN had presence so far east in Sierra Leone.