(3 Mar 1998) English/Nat
Amid fierce fighting, Nigerian-led West African peacekeepers took control of Sierra Leone's heavily fortified northern town of Makeni on Tuesday.
The advancing forces freed about 30 church missionaries and workers who had been trapped in a church for about three weeks by the fighting.
Last month, the West African army known as ECOMOG drove Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma's junta from the capital, Freetown.
An APTV camera crew filmed exclusive footage of ECOMOG troops taking Makeni.
These exclusive A-P-T-V pictures show a convoy of Nigerian-led ECOMOG peacekeepers on the road to Makeni.
The provincial capital, 200 kilometres (130 miles) north of the capital Freetown, was the next objective for these troops after driving out the rebels in Lunsar.
The Nigeria-led intervention force took control of Freetown in February and has since been fighting to expand its control in the rest of the countryside.
At one point, the ECOMOG troops were attacked from the bush by rebel forces.
But after a fierce fight, the rebels were overpowered and some were taken prisoner.
The Nigerian-led West African peacekeepers entered Makeni and started firing their automatic weapons to try to flush out any rebels who had not already fled.
Once the town was secure, the residents emerged from their houses to cheer the liberating troops.
Swift retribution for one suspected rebel was dealt out by the locals, and it was left to ECOMOG troops to save him.
The arrival of the troops also meant freedom for around 30 church missionaries and workers.
They had been trapped in their church for more than two weeks, listening to the gunfire and not daring to venture out into the street.
With obvious relief, they held a thanksgiving service in the church that had been both their sanctuary and prison.
This rebel was wounded during the recent fighting.
He was treated by a western doctor whose surgery had been looted and destroyed by her patient's comrades.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Well, I think the worst part about it was that we just didn't know what was going to happen. We're stuck in this place here, you hear the shooting around, you hear the R-P-G's ( rocket propelled grenades) going. As ex-pats, we were asked to stay here, not to go into the town, so we really just didn't know what was happening. And you get people coming in and out all the time telling their stories of the looting, of the raping, and they say, 'When are they going to come here?'"
SUPER CAPTION: Sister Ann Stevens, Doctor
The ECOMOG forces have a regional mandate to reinstate the civilian government.
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was overthrown in a bloody coup last year which was organised by Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma.
Kabbah was sent into exile in neighbouring Guinea.
He is expected to return to Freetown on March 10th, where preparations are underway for his arrival.
#Ecomog #SierraLeone #Makeni
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