Sierra Leone's peace talks start in Lome today

Sierra Leone rebels said they were ready to start observing a ceasefire from today ahead of peace talks with representatives …

Sierra Leone rebels said they were ready to start observing a ceasefire from today ahead of peace talks with representatives of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's government.

"We are ready for the ceasefire. At least on our part," the legal adviser to the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), said.

Mr Kabbah and RUF leader, Mr Foday Sankoh, agreed last Tuesday in Lome, Togo, for the rebels and the Nigerian-led West African intervention force, ECOMOG, to halt hostilities from today.

The truce would last for the duration of negotiations between RUF and government representatives in the Togolese capital on a comprehensive accord to end Sierra Leone's eight-year conflict.

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Officials in Sierra Leone said a first batch of the government delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Sahr Matturi, had left for Lome on Saturday. A second group headed by Attorney-General and Justice Minister Solomon Berewa flew out yesterday.

A special ministerial committee of the 16-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which is dealing with the conflict meets in the Togolese capital today ahead of the start of negotiations. The committee members are Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone itself.

Officials in Lome said Togo's Foreign Minister, Mr Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, had met RUF officials yesterday to put finishing touches to preparation for both the ECOWAS meeting and the negotiations.

Togo's President Gnassingbe Eyadema is chairman of ECOWAS and has been leading Sierra Leone mediation on behalf of the bloc.

Rebel leader Mr Sankoh has spent more than a month in Lome where he held strategy talks with his guerrilla commanders specially flown out from the Sierra Leone bush.

Mr Sankoh himself is on leave from prison in Freetown where he was in custody while appealing against a death sentence for treason.

Mr Kabbah allowed him to travel in a desperate attempt to end the worsening conflict in the former British colony after rebels invaded Freetown in January. ECOMOG evicted the insurgents after two weeks of fighting in which more than 5,000 people died.

A Sierra Leonean newspaper editor was released over the weekend after being held for three days on suspicion of collaborating with rebels. Mr Jonathan Leigh of the daily Independent Observer had been picked up by ECOMOG.