MOSCOW, May 10 (AVN) -The near future is likely to see NATO direct-action forces deployment in Sierra Leone for conduction of a SPECOP there, a source in the General Staff told the Military News Agency.
At present 15,000-strong group of rebels from the Revolutionary United Front headed by Foday Sanko are keeping about 500 blue helmets prisoners. Nine UN servicemen were killed, dozens received wounds.
The peacekeepers engaged rebels in the capital of Sierra Leone Tuesday. On Monday the UK special forces arrived in Freetown for protection and evacuation of citizens to the neighbouring Senegal. On the approach to Sierra Leone there is a group of British warships. In that connection the General Staff does not exclude that in the near future NATO direct action forces can be deployed for a SPECOP there.
A source in the Defence Ministry verified the information that UN military observer Major Alexander Zinenkov was delivered from captivity to Freetown on Tuesday. His colleague Lieutenant-Captain Andrei Ufimtsev is still kept hostage by the RUF.