U.S. Rejects Call for Sierra Leone Deployment

WASHINGTON —  The Clinton administration Monday rebuffed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plea for a “rapid-reaction force” from the industrialized West to rescue embattled U.N. peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, although Washington pledged air transport and other logistical support to reinforce the U.N. troops.

Meanwhile, in Freetown, capital of the war-torn West African country, British paratroops began arriving to evacuate British and European Union citizens. The United States, the United Nations and international relief organizations were withdrawing most of their employees as the situation grew increasingly dangerous.

At least four people were killed and dozens wounded Monday when troops loyal to rebel leader Foday Sankoh fired into a group of demonstrators who were calling for an end to the fighting, which erupted earlier this month as a U.S.-mediated cease-fire broke down.

Late Monday, a White House official said the United States had agreed to provide air transport to troops from Nigeria, Bangladesh and possibly other countries to reinforce the U.N. contingent. But he emphasized, “It will not be necessary for U.S. combat troops to go.”

Earlier in the day, President Clinton told reporters that his administration was considering ways to help the 8,700-strong U.N. force that was humiliated late last week when an estimated 500 of its troops disappeared, apparently kidnapped by guerrillas of Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front.

“We’re working now on what can be done to restore the . . . U.N. peacekeeping mission there and make it work,” Clinton said.

Annan, who headed U.N. peacekeeping operations before he was selected for his present post, said in a written statement, “A rapid-reaction force may be needed in Sierra Leone as soon as possible to assist in restoring conditions conducive to the resumption of the peace process.”

Annan’s spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said such a force would have to rely on troops from the West.

“Clearly there are a limited number of governments in the world who have the sophisticated military capacity to transport well-trained, well-equipped troops over long distances quickly,” he said.

West African Nations Will Meet Today

Annan met at U.N. headquarters for an hour Monday with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. After the meeting, Albright told reporters, “We have been having discussions with the Nigerians, as has the secretary-general, and we are just going to be looking at different ways that the international community and we can be supportive.”

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo planned a meeting todayin Abuja, his country’s administrative capital, of representatives from nine West African nations. U.S. officials said that meeting could result in the decision to reconstitute the Nigerian-led West African force that was credited with maintaining order in Sierra Leone and enforcing a peace agreement signed in July. The nation’s civil war resumed shortly after the West Africans turned over their duties to the U.N. force, which includes troops from Kenya, Ghana, India, Guinea, Jordan and Zambia, as well as a much smaller Nigerian contingent.

The White House official said the United States is ready to assist the West African states if they decide to reenter Sierra Leone.

Before her meeting with Annan, Albright indicated that the U.S. was looking for an alternative to the U.N. force.

In addition to U.N.-mandated peacekeepers, she said, there are “other ways to do things, as we have shown in a variety of other areas, where there can be a coalition of the willing and a number of ways to deal with important problems.”

That seemed to be a reference to the forces led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, a province of Serbia, Yugoslavia’s dominant republic, and to the Australian-dominated contingent in Indonesia’s East Timor. But officials said her words also covered a Nigerian-led West African force.

Eckhard, the U.N. spokesman, said the world organization’s peacekeeping efforts have been crippled by the failure of member nations to provide the money needed to run them.

“Frankly, governments have not given us the strength we need here at headquarters to do the kind of professional job we would like to do,” he said.

Britain, once the colonial power in Sierra Leone, dispatched warships and paratroops to the region, becoming the first Western country to do so. Although officials said the deployment was intended only for the evacuation of an estimated 850 British, European Union and Commonwealth citizens, Foreign Minister Robin Cook said the presence of the troops might also make it easier for the U.N. forces to regain the initiative.

Hundreds Prepare for Evacuation

On Monday evening, paratroops secured Lungi International Airport on the outskirts of Freetown in preparation for the evacuation. Several hundred people had gathered at the Mamy Yoko Hotel in Freetown by nightfall, the British government said, but the evacuation was not expected to begin before daybreak today.

“We have to wait until the morning and see how the situation develops,” a Defense Ministry spokesman said in London. “We want to have as many troops on the ground as possible, and naval assets offshore, so the job can be made more secure. But obviously we are mindful of speed, given the nature of the place. It’s a pretty volatile situation.”

Cook told Parliament that securing the airport was “not only of immediate utility for the evacuation but is also valuable in allowing the U.N. forces to build up.” But opposition Tory lawmakers urged Cook to evacuate the civilians quickly and get out, warning that they would not support British involvement in the civil war in Sierra Leone.

In addition to about 200 troops on the ground, Britain has about 700 more ready to move in from Dakar, Senegal. The helicopter carrier Ocean, with about 600 Royal Marines, the frigate Chatham and three support ships left the Mediterranean and were due to arrive off the West African coast within the next few days, the Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Accord Gave Rebels Amnesty for Crimes

During Sierra Leone’s eight-year civil war, which ended with the U.S.-mediated peace agreement in July, Sankoh’s guerrillas and a separate rebel force led by Johnny Paul Koroma were accused of a gruesome catalog of war crimes. According to U.S. officials and other impartial observers, the rebels specialized in hacking off the arms and legs of civilians suspected of sympathizing with the government. Many of the victims were children, some as young as 1 or 2.

The peace agreement gave the rebels amnesty for war crimes, and it even handed Sankoh a seat in a coalition Cabinet. Albright, who visited the country in October, conceded that the amnesty allowed brutal criminals to escape justice, but she said it was necessary to end the conflict.

However, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday that the amnesty covered only crimes committed before the peace accord. He said Sankoh and Koroma have no immunity for their recent activities.

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Kempster reported from Washington and Miller from London. Times staff writer John J. Goldman at the United Nations contributed to this report.