Security Council Lifts Arms Embargo and Other Sanctions Against Sierra Leone

The Security Council yesterday lifted the arms embargo and other sanctions it imposed on Sierra Leone more than 12 years ago during the civil war that left at least 75,000 people dead and many more maimed. The Council’s decision to end the sanctions set out in resolution 1171 of 1998 comes just weeks after the Government of Sierra Leone requested that the measures be lifted.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member body recalled its readiness to terminate the measures “once the control of the Government of Sierra Leone has been fully re-established over all its territory, and when all non-governmental forces have been disarmed and demobilized.”  In a separate decision, the Council extended the mandate of the Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) for another year, until 15 September 2011.  Established in 2008 to continue UN efforts to boost peace in the West African nation, the Office is tasked with providing political advice, as well as monitoring and promoting human rights, and helping to train national police and security forces and strengthen democratic institutions.

(Excerpted from a UN Press Release)