UN urges rethink on Sierra Leone amnesty

The United Nations has said that the amnesty agreed as part of a peace agreement in the West African state of Sierra Leone should not apply to gross human rights violations. Under the deal, rebel forces who have been waging a civil war against the government will disarm and receive several senior posts in government. A UN spokesman visiting the capital with the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said that the amnesty should not apply to crimes against humanity; the rebels had targeted civilians. The UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, said that the scale of mutilations she saw during a recent visit were worse than those perpetrated in Kosovo.