From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 17:26:48 EDT ["Reliable reports said militia men known as Kamajors or Donsos had attacked several villages, killing at least 45 civilians." - Of course, this sentence is buried within the text (compare this to the coverage of Racak!!!). The fact that the Kamajors are well known for receiving British SAS assistance and the tactical expertise of MPRI-type mercenary outfits that are active in Africa hasn't stopped the British press from focusing on RUF crimes instead and completely passing over those of the UK's allies. This despite the fact that the government forces have violated most of the ceasefires and have been involved in all the crimes that the RUF is charged of (including amputations, use of child soldiers, rapes, massacres, etc). Of course, the Kamajors are just practicing what their teachers know best, last spring the Brits apparantly massacred 30 villagers when "resuing" their own soldiers who were being held by the RUF. Then again the US killed some 5,000-6,000 people in Somalia and this never even registered as a blip on the corporate media's radar screen, so why would these massacres of Africans by Western forces or their allies matter this time aound? Well, they obvioulsy don't. Sadly, this is just another in a long line of silenced crimes and quiet victims whose dehumanization will be accepted by an unknowing world media panopticon.] Tuesday, 31 July, 2001, 21:00 GMT 22:00 UK UN condemns 'callous' attack UN will deploy in diamond areas in spite of 'blood chilling ' attack by Mark Doyle in Freetown The Commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone has described as callous an attack on civilians which took place recently in the diamond mining region in the east of the country. Lieutenant General Daniel Opande movingly told reporters on Tuesday that the massacre of at least nine civilians and possibly many more was one of the worst things he had seen in a long military career. Attacks on children have been an hallmark of rebels They were slaughtered like chickens, the general said, by a man he described as a renegade rebel commander, one Demba Marah. He is from an apparent splinter group from the main rebel Revolutionary United Front, which has signed a ceasefire which the UN says the main force is largely respecting. Six-month-old baby The Kenyan UN commander said the scenes in the village of Henekuma had chilled his blood when he saw the remains of a murdered six-month-old baby, other small children and old people. The UN saw nine bodies in the village, although some reports say the number of dead was much higher. The war in Sierra Leone has been brutal The assault on Henekuma appears to have been in revenge for earlier attacks on rebel positions by armed militia men opposed to the rebels. Reliable reports said militia men known as Kamajors or Donsos had attacked several villages, killing at least 45 civilians. Serious challenge The outbreak of fighting between the rebels and the militia men in the diamond mining areas is a serious challenge for the UN, which has its largest peacekeeping force in the world in Sierra Leone. The UN commander said it was apparent some splinter groups of rebels and militia men were not obeying the orders of their high commands, which were in favour of the ceasefire and UN-sponsored disarmament. General Opande said nevertheless the UN deployment would continue in the diamond areas. A force of several thousand Pakistanis is due to be in place there in the next few weeks. ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
