ECOMOG has now deployed large numbers of troops into the interior of Sierra Leone and has secured all major towns throughout the country with the exception of Kono and Kailahun. On 22 March another two battalions departed the Western peninsula for the Eastern province and large numbers of troops are currently consolidating their position at Daru East of Kenema to prepare for the assault on Kailahun.
These surrenders are being registered by ECOMOG troops and in some areas, particularly in the south-east, they are incarcerated. There are still some dead bodies from reprisal killings in evidence on the verge of some of the roads.
The report proposes that the Office of the UN Special Envoy be strengthened through the deployment of 10 UN military liaison officers, two police advisers and one human rights officer subject to the Security Council's approval. The British Government has pledged 2 million pounds sterling to this Trust Fund. The formal lifting of the UN sanctions except the import of weapons and the movement of junta associates and the ECOWAS embargo has led to the importation of several consignments of fuel and foodstuffs by sea into Freetown.
This has caused the price of basic commodities to plummet helping to alleviate the humanitarian plight of the civilian population. For example, the cost of diesel in Freetown has fallen from 20, leones per gallon at the beginning of February to its pre-coup level of 3, leones per gallon. Although the main highways in Sierra Leone are deemed too insecure for the safe passage of International UN and NGO personnel, commercial transporters have taken advantage of reduced fuel prices to deliver rice and other foodstuffs to the urban centres of Bo, Kenema and Makeni.
Markets in these areas are thriving and food prices have fallen to pre-coup levels. International staff have been monitoring humanitarian programmes by chartering commercial aircraft for one-day assessments. The Appeal seeks USD Priority interventions identified in the Appeal include: provision of emergency agricultural inputs in time for the planting season in May; re-establishment of essential health services, disease control and immunisation; access to safe drinking water; child protection and food for malnourished children; emergency basic education inputs; logistics support to food distribution; assistance to and repatriation of Liberian refugees; initial support for the return of the displaced to their areas of origin; coordination support and logistical services.
