Signs Of Peace In Sierra Leone

Caught off guard by a bold rebel attack on the capital, Sierra Leone's president has met with the insurgency's jailed leader to discuss cease-fire terms and his possible release from prison.

But President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and rebel mastermind Foday Sankoh agreed to a truce that by late Thursday existed only in words. Rebels continued to terrify civilians in Freetown, setting neighborhoods ablaze and dragging residents from their homes.

Kabbah said the rebels had burned the city's university and its main hospital.

"These guys, they're desperate," Kabbah said. "They're doing exactly what a desperate man does."

Despite the president's claim that his allies were in control of the situation, rebels continued to hold their positions in Freetown's eastern and central districts, where artillery fire echoed through the streets.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew remained in effect in a city abandoned by foreigners and aid workers. Embassies were shuttered and U.N. staff fled the city earlier in the week, saying security could no longer be guaranteed.

The rebels stunned the government and its allied West African defense force Wednesday when they battled their way into the capital, the most populous city in this nation of 4.5 million people.

In the wake of the attack, Kabbah met with Sankoh, who is being held at an undisclosed location by the government.

The two men discussed cease-fire terms and the possible release of the longtime rebel leader, renowned for his ruthlessness toward civilians.

"We both agreed to the need to stop this carnage and destruction of our very limited infrastructure," Kabbah said.

Sankoh was convicted late last year of high treason and was sentenced to death. He has appealed his conviction with the help of a British lawyer.

Although Kabbah said Sankoh agreed with the proposed cease-fire, the rebel leader's chief field commander vowed to battle on.

"The time to talk has finished. We are now in a position to drive the Nigerians out of our country," rebel Sam Bockarie said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Kabbah was deposed in a coup in May 1997 by a military junta allied with the rebels, but soldiers from a West African intervention force restored him to power 10 months ago.

Since then, the insurgents have been rebuilding, strengthened by defections from Sierra Leone's military and by mercenaries from Liberia.

People who have spent time with the rebels say they fiercely believe in their cause a vague mixture of agrarian democracy and revolutionary socialism.

But their only stated goals are the ouster of Kabbah, who they accuse of corruption, and freedom for Sankoh, a former photographer who claims supernatural powers.

Witnesses being evacuated from Freetown aboard military helicopters Thursday said the rebels were moving from house to house, demanding allegiance from civilians. The homes of familis that failed to do so were set ablaze.

Commanders from the West African defense force, known as ECOMOG, said the rebels were using civilians as human shields, slowing down government efforts to dislodge them.

Finance Minister James Jonah conceded that the rebels controlled parts of the capital and said the success of their attack came as a surprise.

Jonah also accused Liberia's President Charles Taylor of backing the rebel assault.

On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he had "sent a very firm message to Liberia that we believe there is credible evidence" it is supporting the Sierra Leonean rebels.

"If they are giving any support," he told British Broadcasting Corp. Radio, "that support must stop immediately."

Taylor gave tacit support to Sierra Leone's former junta and has accused the current government of harboring rebels trying to oust him. He has denied sending soldiers into Sierra Leone, although he concedes that Liberian mercenaries are helping the rebels.

Written by Ian Stewart