|
More than 300 troops
will stay behind |
2000: British marines leave Sierra
Leone |
Artificially 1969:
The The major
contingent of the British military task-force sent to help restore order
in Sierra Leone has left the country.
The departure of the prestigious Royal Marines was overseen by UK
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who said his government was proud of
what they had done to restore stability.
Britain, the former colonial power in Sierra Leone, is handing
responsibility for security to the United Nations.
About 300 UK troops and support staff will stay on in the war-torn
African country for the next six to eight weeks to help establish a UK
military advisory training team.
Most people in Freetown would prefer to see the British military
continuing their confidence-building street patrols, but UK ministers
always insisted their mission to help the UN forces there was a short-term
one.
"They did appear on the verge of collapse." Brigadier David Richards
said.
Brigadier David Richards, commander of the British forces in
Sierra Leone, told BBC Radio's Today programme: "The UN have a much
stronger resolve now and are clearer about their mandate and have shown
that they have the resolve to fight.
"When we arrived here about six weeks ago, they did appear on the verge
of collapse. Today they have been transformed."
At the core of the continuing British effort will be the retraining of
the demoralised Sierra Leone
army.
Many of its soldiers are poorly trained and equipped and their ranks
have featured children.
Sierra Leone continues to face horrendous problems. A war is being
fought in the countryside about which there is little reliable
information.
The UN says that one million people have been affected.
The rebels hold the main diamond-producing area, which deprives the
government of revenue and, it is alleged, attracts support for the rebels
from neighbouring Liberia.