Sierra Leone.

On 13 July, the Security Council established a new peacekeeping operation - the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) - to monitor the military and security situation in the country, as security conditions permit, for an initial six-month period, until 13 January 1999. In unanimously adopting resolution 1181 (1998), the Council also condemned the continued resistance by remnants of the ousted junta and members of the Revolutionary United Front to the legitimate Government and demanded that they lay down their arms immediately.

The new Mission will include up to 70 military observers, as well as a small medical unit, with necessary equipment and civilian support staff. The Council, which emphasized the importance of maintaining a secure environment for Mission personnel, stated that the mandate also required the peacekeeping operation to monitor the disarmament and demobilization of former combatants concentrated in the secure areas of the country.

Its responsibilities will also include monitoring the role of the Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in those areas. UNOMSIL would also assist in monitoring respect for international humanitarian law and for the voluntary disarmament and demobilization of members of the Civil Defence Forces (traditional militias), as security conditions permit.

Expressing serious concern at the reports of cross-border arms flows and support to rebels in Sierra Leone, the Council welcomed the Secretary-General's intention to pursue steps to eliminate those activities. Also expressing grave concern for the plight of children affected by the conflict, the Council welcomed the efforts of the Government to coordinate an effective national response to the needs of children affected by armed conflict, and the recommendation of the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict that Sierra Leone be made a pilot project for a more concerted response to the needs of children in the context of post-conflict peace-building.

The Council further welcomed the decision of the Secretary-General to convene a high-level conference to mobilize assistance for peacekeeping activities, emergency and humanitarian needs, and reconstruction and rehabilitation in Sierra Leone. It considered the Secretary-General's report on the situation in Sierra Leone, dated 9 June, in which he recommended the establishment of an observer mission and expressed concern about the atrocities, including rape, indiscriminate killings and mutilation of civilians, being carried out by forces loyal to the former junta, as well as human rights abuses perpetrated by the rebels in the periods before and after the restoration of the Government. The humanitarian situation was described as fluid, with deterioration in some areas of the country resulting in a continuous flow of refugees into Guinea and Liberia, and an increase in the numbers of internally displaced in some parts of Sierra Leone.

In Abuja, Nigeria, on 2 July, the Secretary-General signed a joint communique issued at the end of a meeting which he co-hosted with the new Nigerian Head of State and Chairman of EGOWAS, and attended by the Presidents of Sierra Leone and Liberia, who agreed to welcome and support the deployment along their borders of observers from the United Nations and ECOMOG. All three regional leaders called upon the United Nations to increase its presence in Sierra Leone, in support of the efforts of ECOWAS and the Government of Sierra Leone to promote peace and security in the country.

On 17 June, a number of UN bodies issued a joint statement in Rome in the context of the meeting on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, on the crisis in Sierra Leone, saying it was no longer sufficient for humanitarian and human rights officials to denounce atrocities while unable to prevent their recurrence. The international criminal court should be the first effective weapon against the culture of impunity which has fuelled cycles of violence in every part of the world over the past decades.

"The brutality in Sierra Leone is a harsh reminder that the diplomatic exchanges in Rome have flesh and blood, life and death consequences for people living in fear in many parts of the world", they said.

In another of its actions in response to the situation in Sierra Leone, the Security Council on 5 June decided that all States shall prevent the sale or supply of arms and related materiel to other than the Sierra Leone Government through named points of entry. The restriction was not imposed on ECOMOG (or the United Nations). Also by the resolution, States shall notify the Committee established by resolution 1132 (1997) of all exports from their territories of arms of related materiel to Sierra Leone. Further, the Council decided that all States shall prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of leading members of the former military junta and of the Revolutionary United Front.

RELATED ARTICLE: Pilot Project for Children of War

Following a four-day visit to Sierra Leone, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Olara A. Otunnu, challenged the international community to respond in a more vigorous and concerted fashion to the needs of children affected by the conflict in Sierra Leone. One of the most pressing challenges facing the country today is "the crisis of the youth" - the plight of children affected directly and indirectly by the conflict, he said.

He urged the international community to make the rehabilitation of the children a pilot project for post-conflict reconstruction.

He identified five areas requiring urgent action by the international community: the demobilization and reintegration of child combatants; the resettlement of internally displaced persons; the tracing of families of unaccompanied children; the rehabilitation and support of victims without limbs; and the provision and rehabilitation of medical and educational services.