Word: ruffing
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...situation," says the army's medical director Colonel Kis Kamara. "Everything's mixed up. If we talk about this now it will be exaggerated. By September we will be very much organized." For their part, the rebels show even greater ignorance of the threat they face. RUF spokesman Gibril Massaquoi says a foreign aid agency conducted limited testing for HIV among rebel troops last year but revealed "only one lady who we were able to trap down." When told that nearly 25% of Sierra Leone's army recruits tested positive, he is dismissive. "Twenty-five persons is not many...
...problem: Taylor and his cronies stand accused of sponsoring the murderous, limb-chopping Revolutionary United Front rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone, a country with bountiful diamond fields. Taylor, who escaped from an American prison before returning to Liberia and fighting a bloody "liberation" war, denies he backs the RUF and says he is under attack from America and Britain. The President's cries grew louder a few weeks ago when the United Nations banned all travel abroad by Liberian officials and Taylor's relatives, except for direct trips to the U.N. in New York...
...taken off guard by the seizure. In addition, the fact that Sankoh was captured in the capital rather than having rejoined his comrades in the bush, as expected, implies that he may no longer have been in command of the rebel forces. But his almost mythical status among the RUF's fighters, most of whom were recruited as teenagers, can't be discounted. Last time around, Sankoh used the ability of his forces to brutalize the long-suffering Sierra Leoneans to parlay his way from death row into government. This time, his bargaining chip is likely to be 350 hapless...
...secured the release of some 139 peacekeepers after being urged to intercede by the U.N. But Taylor, himself a notorious warlord whose country has been the conduit for the diamonds mined by Sierra Leone's rebels to finance their war, warned Tuesday that any continuation of attacks against the RUF would endanger the lives of the U.N. personnel. And the international body appears inclined to heed the warning...
...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 - and negotiating...