The Rev.Jesse Jackson, working as President Clinton’s Sierra Leone troubleshooter, yesterday urged rebels to free hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers they hold captive.
“All the hostages should be freed and freed now. There is no basis for delay, there is no basis for negotiation,” Jackson said.
Jackson spoke in Liberia, whose president, Charles Taylor, is mediating the violent conflict in the neighboring West African nation.
It was not clear if Jackson would speak with Foday Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front, which holds the U.N. hostages.
Sierra Leone’s government said earlier this week that Jackson would not be welcome because he had said Sankoh should be included in peace efforts.
But Foreign Minister Sama Banya reversed that position, saying Jackson had made an undisclosed “clarification” of his views on reconciliation.
The U.S. has not been directly involved in peace negotiations, and there are no American troops in the U.N. operation.
But Jackson, who also has visited Nigeria on his diplomatic mission, is trying to ease the crisis by talking to regional powers.
Sankoh, captured Wednesday, remains in government custody amid calls for harsh punishment.
There were no new reports of clashes yesterday between the rebels and the Sierra Leone army or the 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers.
After months of escalating tensions, the rebels seized nearly 500 of the peacekeepers earlier this month. They freed 150 on Sunday, but at least 330 remain hostages.
The U.N. mission is designed to enforce a 1999 peace accord that was hammered out after Sankoh’s forces killed thousands of people.
The U.N. force is expected to grow to 11,000 and may be increased to 16,500, Western diplomats said yesterday.