UN General Assembly
1997

fear, the fear that unless something is done, and done now, the barbarism and adventurism of the military junta will push the country over the brink. Their hope is that the international community will not allow the military junta to convert their country into one vast killing field. If the prevailing situation is allowed to drift much longer, because of a failure of political will, or for any other reason, then the hopes of a peace-loving nation for a life worthy of normal human beings will have been betrayed. I am more than convinced that this cannot be what the United Nations would like to see happen in Sierra Leone. My belief in the United Nations, as the custodian of world peace and security, and as the ultimate defence of the weak and the defenceless, remains as strong as ever. It is on the strength of this conviction, which has been a part of all my adult life, that I bring the case of Sierra Leone to the attention of the Assembly. Only the speedy restoration of the democratically