In my family’s street, a neighbour’s child appeared unexpectedly after being taken two years before at the age of 12 His parents took him back. No one knows what horrors that child has witnessed or how he got away. He himself has never spoken of it.My Uncle Momodu, on the other side of town, heard that I was in town after I stopped in the square to ask directions through streets which had become unfamiliar. By the time I reached his house a short distance away he was already home and waiting. He and his sons were alone, unlike years ago when these houses teemed with my huge extended family. Our old house had been partially destroyed, everything looted.Soon after that visit I had to leave the area.

The local RUF commander had discovered that among the UN team were a journalist and a photographer. It was no longer safe for my husband and I to be around.Driving through Freetown some days later I stopped to pick up some provisions. Among the sellers in their booths someone recognised me as the daughter of the late Dr Forna People came over to say hello. One, a tall, smartly turned-out woman in her fifties, began to cry as she told me how she remembered my father. This happened to me a lot: people would break down in private and in public.

People who had suffered so much cried for me and for themselves, for what might have been. For a future lost.Donations can be made to One Love, a charity for the people of Sierra Leone which is run by Aminatta Forna, via Gift Aid, 0845 075 2000. Sierra Leonean rebels and government troops were fighting for control of a strategic town 35 miles from the country’s capital, Freetown, last night as British paratroops completed the first phase of a military airlift of European civilians fleeing the violence. Sierra Leonean rebels and government troops were fighting for control of a strategic town 35 miles from the country’s capital, Freetown, last night as British paratroops completed the first phase of a military airlift of European civilians fleeing the violence.
Rebels loyal to Foday Sankoh, the notorious leader of the Revolutionary United Front, were attempting to take the town of Masiaka in what appears to be a steady advance on Freetown in defiance of a 1999 peace agreement.The fierce clashes – the first military engagements since last year’s ceasefire – shattered the remains of the Lome peace deal and prompted an exodus of terrified people towards the capital. In Freetown, the British evacuation effort brought some calm after frightening scenes on Monday when an attack on Mr Sankoh’s home left seven civilians deadBritish soldiers rescued citizens from the capital using Chinook helicopters to take them from the Mamy Yoko hotel, which is crowded with those who want to flee the chaos.

People queued by the swimming pool, their hastily packed belongings beside them while soldiers helped to carry the frailest civilians on to the aircraft.In London, a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said about 320 British, EU and Commonwealth citizens had been evacuated so far. They were flown by helicopter to Sierra Leone’s main airport, and from there most had already been taken by airplane to Dakar, the capital of neighbouring Senegal.A force of about 700 British troops had secured Lungi airport across the bay from Freetown. Around 50 of the Britons are staying in tents at Dakar airport in Senegal, hoping to return if the violence subsides while 78 other people of various nationalities were processed at Lungi, but opted to remain in Sierra Leone, the MoD said.Britain is under pressure to keep the troops in place to bolster the beleaguered UN peace-keeping mission, up to 500 of whose members have been taken hostage by the rebels they were trying to disarm.In London, the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, said that the success of British troops in securing the airport was aiding the UN peace-keeping forces. But he repeated there was no question of them taking on combat responsibilities in support of the UN. “These are not going to become combat troops as part of the UN force,” he told the BBC.Mr Sankoh’s whereabouts were unclear after the battle at his home, which lasted hours. Military sources said Mr Sankoh was under the protection of the Sierra Leone army but it was unclear if he had been arrested.Amid fears for the collapse of the UN peace-keeping mission an emergency summit of leaders of Sierra Leone’s West African neighbours is to be held today in the Nigerian capital, Abuja..

British forces in Sierra Leone carried out the first wave of emergency evacuations yesterday, amid renewed fighting and the increasing danger that they will be drawn into the escalating civil war. British forces in Sierra Leone carried out the first wave of emergency evacuations yesterday, amid renewed fighting and the increasing danger that they will be drawn into the escalating civil war.
The official line in London continued to be that the only role for the formidable fighting force now gathering in the West African state was to extract the remaining civilians.However, the UN peace-keeping force in the West African state is seemingly unable to rescue 500 of its troops who are surrounded by the rebels, let alone control the growing lawlessness and violence. In this climate, the Government conceded that the British soldiers and marines will have to stay there at least until further UN reinforcement arrived. The peace-keepers, drawn mainly from Kenya, India and Nigeria were sent in as a policing force and are not equipped for serious combat.Any attempt to extract the “missing” UN troops, including a British officer, will need the help of the British forces.