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Regional Peacekeeping Force – 1999

As provided for in the Lomé Agreement, there was a new six-point mandate for ECOMOG operations in Sierra Leone, set forth by the Federal Government of Nigeria on July 8, 1999. The six points of the mandate are: reconstruction; disarmament; demobilization; integration of the citizenry; training of the Sierra Leonean Armed Forces; and a provision of security for VIPs in the post- war country.¹

However, ECOMOG troops were withdrawn from Sierra Leone in September 1999.² The first batch of 498 Nigerian troops was withdrawn on September 2, 1999.³

The West African Peacekeeping Force (ECOMOG) in Sierra Leone stopped the withdrawal of troops following renewed tensions between the former military junta leader, Johnny Paul Koroma, and rebel leader, Foday Sankoh. “A senior ECOMOG official said in Freetown on Saturday that they suspended the pullout of Nigerian forces, the backbone of the peacekeepers, following an appeal by Sierra Leone’s President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the United Nations. Some 2,000 Nigerian troops have already left the country.”⁴

1. “Sierra Leone; ECOMOG’s new role revealed in Nigeria,” Africa News, July 9, 1999.
2. “Sierra Leone; Kabbah, Obasanjo discuss Ecomog withdrawal,” Africa News, September 3, 1999.
3. “NIGERIA: FIRST BATCH OF ECOMOG CONTINGENT RETURNS FROM SIERRA LEONE,” BBC Monitoring Africa — Political, September 3, 1999.
4. “ECOMOG halts withdrawal of troops from Sierra Leone,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, September 4, 1999.