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Jesse Jackson to mediate in Sierra Leone hostage crisis

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

The visit of American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson to trouble-torn Sierra Leone has heightened hopes for a safe return of the United Nations peacekeepers, including 21 Indian soldiers, who are being held hostage by rebels there.

"The release of 11 of our soldiers on Sunday was a positive signal. And the visit of Jesse Jackson only increases hopes for the safe return of our soldiers," a senior army officer told rediff.com

The Sierra Leone rebels released 18 UN peacekeepers, including 11 Indians, on Sunday. They were handed over to India's 5/8 Gurkhas in the eastern town of Kailahun. "They are all okay," officers in Army Headquarters said, without elaborating.

"The release of 11 soldiers is an indication that the rebels would not want to risk international wrath. We should have our soldiers free in the next couple of days, after Jesse Jackson holds talks with the rebels," the senior officer said.

Rev Jackson was the key broker of the Lome Accord 1999, which ended the ten-year civil war in the West African country. The accord was to result in sharing of power between the rival factions, and offered immunity from prosecution to leaders of the Revolutionary United Front, though the group has a history of brutal attacks and rapes.

Jackson has been negotiating with the warring factions on telephone from the United States. Unable to achieve a breakthrough, he is now headed for Freetown. He is expected there tomorrow.

Jackson will meet Sierra Leone's elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and RUF leader Foday Sankoh, besides leaders of neighbouring countries.

The threat to the peacekeepers began in early May when the RUF rebels began disarming them. The peacekeepers are commanded by Major-General Vijay Jetley of the Indian Army. The RUF rebels are now reportedly just 15 miles away from the capital Freetown.

A British Army officer who escaped from rebel custody told journalists that the rebels had threatened to skin alive the trapped peacekeeping forces from Kenya.

Meanwhile, Indian Army officers in New Delhi said the criticism by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and some others of Major General Jetley's style of functioning has "not yet reached us officially".

They said there has been no official communication about his alleged autocratic ways. "It is well known that some countries are unhappy with an Indian officer commanding the peacekeepers," one officer pointed out.

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