The last contingent of UN troops in Sierra Leone handed over to the national police force on Thursday, ending the peacekeepers’ 12-year involvement with the West African state.
The 150 Mongolian troops have been responsible for protecting the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone since it was set up in 2002.
UNAMSIL, the UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone, numbered 17.368 at its height in 2002. In 2006, it was scaled down to a new administrative mission.
Nine years after the end of hostilities in Sierra Leone, and two decades since the beginning of the diamond-fuelled conflict, the country is considered a successful example of international intervention.
A joint undertaking between the UN and the government of Sierra Leone, the Special Court has operated at a substantially lower cost than other international justice mechanisms. However, a number of its key targets died before verdicts were reached.
The handover of the court’s security from UN troops to Sierra Leonean police comes as its final prosecution, the case against former Liberian President Charles Taylor, has reached its final stages.
During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991-2002).
He is currently being held in the United Nations Detention Unit on the premises of the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden in The Hague, where he is on trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone for his role in the extremely bloody conflict.
Se også i vor kalender under
http://www.u-landsnyt.dk/kalender-indhold/filmaften-om-sierra-leone-se-forsoningens-dilemma
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
