Delegates Call for Strict Monitoring of Sierra Leone Mining

(Rapaport…November 16, 2001) Delegates attending a three-day national consultative conference in Sierra Leone called for a stricter monitoring of the mining sector where the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels have used conflict diamonds to finance its civil war. Delegates also called for the disarmament process to be speeded up in preparation for local elections scheduled for next May. UN spokeswoman Margaret Novicki has said that she believes nationwide disarmament is possible by the November 30 deadline.