B4-0322, 0334, 0344, 0358, 0360, 0371 and 0381/98

Resolution on the situation in Sierra Leone

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the common position of the Council of 20 February 1998,

- having regard to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1132,

- having regard to its previous resolutions on Sierra Leone,

A. whereas a military coup was carried out on 25 May 1997 by part of the Sierra Leonean army, compelling President Kabbah, who had been democratically elected, to flee the country,

B. whereas a peace agreement was signed in Conakry on 23 October 1997 between the military junta and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), and accepted by President Kabbah, providing for power to be returned to the elected President in April 1998,

C. whereas at the recent Ecowas summit in Lomé member states reaffirmed by a majority decision their determination to bring about a negotiated settlement of the crisis in Sierra Leone and refused to give a military mandate to Nigeria, whose troops make up the greater part of Ecomog,

D. regretting therefore that Nigeria has taken by storm the capital of Sierra Leone and has launched a general offensive in the country, thereby exceeding the mandate conferred on Ecomog,

E. nevertheless welcoming the regional efforts that brought down the military regime of Major Johnny Paul Koroma and restored the democratically elected President Kabbah,

F. concerned at the refugee situation, the number of displaced persons and the food shortages,

G. concerned that the situation seems far from being stabilized since confrontations are continuing in the east of the country,

H. deploring the fact that, during their retreat, the rebel soldiers abducted a number of development cooperation workers, most of them Europeans, and held them for two weeks,

1. Welcomes the restoration of the elected civilian government of President Kabbah, and calls on him to restart negotiations in order to resolve the security crisis peacefully, re-establish constitutional order and relaunch national reconciliation, on the basis of the Abidjan agreement of 1996 and the Conakry agreement;

2. Deplores, however, the fact that the military option should have prevailed in the settlement of the crisis, at the price of many civilian deaths during the fighting between rebels and Nigerian troops under the Ecomog flag, and that the spirit of the Conakry agreement was therefore not respected;

3. Calls on the troops loyal to the ousted military junta of Major Johnny Paul Koroma to cease all military activities and to cooperate with the reinstated democratic government in re-establishing law and order and urges all Sierra Leone citizens to refrain from acts of violence or revenge and to contribute to restoring the normal functioning of their country;

4. Calls on the international community and the EU in particular to speed up relief assistance and to increase humanitarian aid to victims in Sierra Leone of the current crisis in the West African region, as well as the rehabilitation of children traumatized by the war;

5. Calls on the parties to the conflict to cooperate with the United Nations, ECHO and NGOs to enable humanitarian aid to get through;

6. Calls for the safety of the personnel of NGOs and international humanitarian organizations represented in Sierra Leone to be guaranteed;

7. Calls on the European Union to provide assistance to the neighbouring countries, which have received a large number of refugees since the fighting began;

8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly, the governments of the signatory States of the Lomé Convention, the United Nations, Ecowas, the OAU and the Government of Sierra Leone.