Word: disarmers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...July 1999 the beastly killing spree had spurred Washington and London into brokering a flawed peace-at-any-price, handing Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front amnesty, four seats in the government and control over the country's rich diamond mines. In return, the rebels were supposed to disarm and behave. Instead, the amnesty emboldened them; they sold smuggled diamonds for fresh weapons; they got ready to grab power. The slapdash pact assumed Sankoh actually wanted peace, trusting in the good faith of a brutal tyrant...
...Congress. But even without Jesse Jackson, negotiations inevitably involve give and take, and the rebels' call for a halt to any U.N. or government counteroffensive reflects their primary concern to maintain control of Sierra Leone's diamond fields to the south and east. Indeed, it was U.N. attempts to disarm the RUF in those areas, in line with last year's peace deal, that sparked the latest outbreak of violence. Most observers believe Sierra Leone's troubles will not end as long as the rebels remain in control of the diamonds - as they did after last year's peace deal...
...intention of laying down the weapons that were the source of their political and economic power. "General Mosquito" Bokarie, the rebels' chief field commander, chastised Sankoh for making peace, ordered his men to hold onto their weapons, and warned the U.N. troops who'd come to disarm them to keep their distance. Sankoh fired Bockarie late last year, but the commander fled to Liberia, where he began to organize a new insurgency that would ensure continued access by the RUF - and its Liberian backers - to the diamond fields. But Sankoh's own commitment to peace was equally dubious. Despite having...
...some 50 U.N. troops and officials hostage Thursday, after killing seven Kenyan soldiers of the international peacekeeping mission Wednesday. The RUF launched fierce attacks on U.N. forces when the peacekeepers attempted, in line with a peace agreement signed last year by the government and RUF leader Foday Sankoh, to disarm rebel forces. But despite the agreement, and the fact that Mr. Sankoh was made a government minister even though he leads an army that terrorized the country by systematically dismembering civilians, the rebel fighters have shown no interest in disarming. To do so would break their grip on the rich...
...find its intra-Shi'ite rivalry tougher going against Amal, whose support from Syria, with its 30,000 troops in Lebanon, has helped it seat twice as many M.P.s as Hizballah. If Syria and Lebanon ever wind up at peace with Israel, Hizballah will be under intense pressure to disarm--by force if necessary...