Chastened coup leaders seek peace

Reinforcements continued to arrive on Sunday for a West African force led by Nigeria. The force, which seeks the reinstatement of democratically-elected President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, launched an offensive last week that led to fighting which left more than 50 dead in this impoverished West African nation. “Let us agree that the diplomatic option will be the answer to the problem,” coup leader Maj Johnny Paul Koroma told the Associated Press. We are not prepared for military intervention.” . Since seizing power on May 25, Koroma and his armed forces revolutionary council have yet to bring stability to the capital.

In addition to being preoccupied with a possible attack by the Nigerians, they have also been hindered by their inability to stop marauding troops who continue to loot and harass civilians. Fear of such soldiers — many of whom are former rebel fighters who poured in from the bush after Koroma’s coup — has kept civilians from returning to work, further hampering Koroma’s attempts to restore some sense of normalcy to Freetown. Koroma hopes a UN Security Council meeting today will what no other international body has done count out the use of military means to restore Kabbah.

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a number of other countries have said that force might be the only option to remove the soldiers from power.

Koroma’s government is fighting two giants of the UN Mafia,” the chief of defence staff, Brig Samuel Koroma, said bitterly. He was referring to Kabbah’s career with the UN development programme and Sierra Leone’s ambassador to the United Nations, James Jonah, who has called the Koromas dogs.”