U.N. Has Last of Its Captured Troops Back

The monthlong United Nations hostage drama ended Sunday when the U.N. reported that the last of more than 500 captured peacekeepers had arrived here safely after their release by rebels.

The long-awaited resolution of the crisis removes a major obstacle in international efforts to revive the country’s 10-month-old peace accord, which has been flouted by the rebels since early this month.

The U.N., backed by a regional organization of West African countries, had insisted that the peacekeepers be freed without any conditions, despite demands by the rebels that the Sierra Leonean government first hand over their detained leader, Foday Sankoh.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has threatened to put Sankoh on trial for a host of alleged atrocities since the July peace deal, including the deaths of 21 peace marchers outside Sankoh’s home in Freetown three weeks ago. Sankoh, who still holds a top government post, was arrested May 17 when he came out of hiding.

“No conditions have been attached to the release, and that is a positive sign,” U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said. “It perhaps bodes well for a future peaceful resolution of this conflict.”

A U.N. aircraft with 84 Zambians and one Gambian landed here shortly after 10 p.m., the final batch of hostages freed by the Revolutionary United Front, or RUF, over the last two weeks via Monrovia, the capital of neighboring Liberia. Liberian President Charles Taylor, a longtime backer of the Sierra Leonean insurgency, used his leverage with the RUF to broker the release, officials said.

Taylor complained last week that continued fighting between government forces and the RUF was making the negotiations difficult, but he was under great pressure from the Economic Community of West African States to complete the task by the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, the regional organization celebrated its 25th anniversary in Nigeria, and the hostage drama threatened to dampen the festivities.

“The secretary-general is delighted with the news from Liberia,” said Fred Eckhard, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York.

U.N. officials in Freetown said all of the 500 or so missing peacekeepers now are accounted for, including four Zambians who were killed May 6 in a gun battle with the RUF. The Zambians were among six dead soldiers found May 22 at the strategic crossroads of Rogberi Junction, 55 miles northeast of Freetown, near where two journalists, an American and a Spaniard, were killed in an ambush last week.

The end of the hostage crisis comes as a great relief to the U.N., which has lost much of its credibility among ordinary Sierra Leoneans after allowing its troops to be overrun by the rebels. Some of the captured Zambian soldiers were sent into RUF territory just two days after arriving in Sierra Leone and even before they had been issued proper maps.

The troubled mission also has raised doubts in other countries about the resolve of U.N. peacekeeping efforts in Africa. Last week, Annan attempted to address those concerns by proposing a major expansion of the Sierra Leone mission to 16,500 troops, but critics say the bigger deployment will mean nothing if the peacekeepers do not stand up to the RUF.

The RUF rebels not only rounded up more than 500 peacekeepers, they stole their military vehicles and weapons--even stripped the uniforms off their backs. Villagers fleeing recent fighting northeast of Freetown have reported that the U.N. equipment is being used in rebel attacks.

“I am just glad it is over, this part of it anyway,” Wimhurst said.

Even with the arrival of the last hostages here in the capital, the U.N. continues to be frustrated about two other locations where peacekeepers have been refused freedom of movement by the RUF. A group of 23 Indian troops is trapped at Kuiva, and more than 200 peacekeepers and military observers are surrounded at Kailahun, both in the east of the country.

U.N. officials originally classified the 23 Indians among those troops being held hostage, but they now regard the Kuiva and Kailahun standoffs as less serious. Wimhurst said the troops have been blocked from making patrols, but they have not been captured, disarmed or mistreated. He said they generally have good relations with the local RUF commanders.

“We would like the RUF to allow them freedom of movement,” Wimhurst said. “ . . . We are here to keep a peace, so the sooner they can move around the better.”

The peacekeepers released Sunday were said to be in relatively good health. One had a broken leg, several had malaria and most of them were suffering from general fatigue, officials said. Before boarding the U.N. aircraft in Monrovia, some of the peacekeepers complained to reporters of rough conditions, whereas others said their captors had treated them with kindness.