| It would appear that news of an imminent peace deal was premature and
that the much predicted signing ceremony in Lomé, Togo, on
Saturday may not take place after all ....unless
some dramatic change of heart or other extraordinary diplomatic initiative
takes place within the next 48 hours.
Reports reaching London, so far unconfirmed, say that the RUF and their allies of the AFRC have rejected the latest peace deal which was delivered to them yesterday by their own chief negotiator Mr Solomon Rogers and other emissaries sent by the international Mediation Group from Lomé. The delegation had finally managed to reach the rebel HQ at Kailahun, in Eastern Sierra Leone, late evening yesterday, Tuesday 29 June. According to these unconfirmed reports, the RUF and their AFRC allies are countermanding:
However, as if to confound the people of Sierra Leone, a news agency report filed by a local correspondent in Freetown was flashed across news wires world-wide late yesterday afternoon which claimed that news had been received at State House in Freetown to say that the peace deal had been accepted by the rebels and that President Kabbah had knelt on the ground to pray and give thanks to Allah for bringing this wonderful event about. *****As we went to press this morning, it has been revealed by Andersen's Sierra Leone web news that Foday Sankoh has written to him to deny that there has been any endorsement of the peace deal by his people on the ground. *****It has been revealed that Attorney General Solomon Berewa has been to Lome with a form for Foday Sankoh to fill for an eventual pardon. However, lawyers representing Sankoh have allegedly told the AG that he cannot speak directly to their client. As a result he has returned without Sankoh even seeing the form. |
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