The News Review:

- South Africa strains to keep lid on mercenaries.
- Ex-Sierra Leonean rebel group appeals for funds.
- General News of Friday, 19 March 2004
- Britain to send 750 extra troops

South Africa strains to keep lid on mercenaries.
Free with registration – Chicago Tribune – AccessMyLibrary.com – Mar 19, 2004
Last month, the 49-year-old retired pilot was arrested by South Africa for fighting rebels in Ivory Coast, this time as a mercenary for Ivory Coast’s government. A decade after the end of apartheid and cessation of South Africa’s numerous border wars, the country has some of the best-trained soldiers in the world. The problem is many of them are working for the highest bidder, in conflict zones from Iraq to Sierra Leone. “We don’t like the idea that South Africa has become a cesspool of mercenaries,” Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa’s foreign affairs minister, said last week after more than 20 alleged South African mercenaries were arrested in Zimbabwe and.

Ex-Sierra Leonean rebel group appeals for funds.
Free with registration – Asia Africa Intelligence Wire – AccessMyLibrary.com – Mar 19, 2004
Ex-Sierra Leonean rebel group appeals for funds. | Asia Africa Intelligence Wire (March, 2004).

General News of Friday, 19 March 2004
ghanaweb.com – Mar 19, 2004
The bureaux are located in Cotonou, Ouagadougou, Monrovia and Banjul with each covering three or four countries and are expected to collect, analyse and report data in a timely manner for decision-making. Nana Akufo-Addo, who is also the Chairman of the Mediation and Security Council of ECOWAS, said for preventive diplomacy, ECOWAS relied on members of the Council members, who were often the first to make contact with dissenting groups within Member States in trying to seek solutions to particular problems. Mr Desmond Luke, a Member of the Council from Sierra Leone, on behalf of his colleagues said they were prepared to work for peace and development within the Sub-Region. He said their efforts would not be fruitful without the full support and co-operation of ECOWAS. Members of the Council are Mr E. Debrah from Ghana; Mr Bernardine Do Rego from Benin; Dr Ouidi Naba Douamba from Burkina Faso; Former President of Cape Verde, President Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro and Mr Essienne Dieudonne from Cote d’Ivoire.

Britain to send 750 extra troops
The Age – Mar 19, 2004
British soldiers have been in Kosovo since 1999 as part of the multinational NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force, though their numbers had been drawn down to about 280 prior to today’s announcement. On its website, KFOR said the 12th Mechanised Brigade of the British army is headquartered in the provincial capital Pristina, with personnel drawn from the Staffordshire Regiment, Royal Engineers and Royal Military Police. Besides Kosovo, Britain has 1,130 troops in Bosnia and Croatia, 8,800 in Iraq, 1,385 in Kuwait and other Gulf countries, 350 in Afghanistan, 1,240 in the Falklands, 420 in Gibraltar and 100 in Sierra Leone. A further 450 troops are deployed on various UN missions around the world, plus 3,200 soldiers stationed in Cyprus, 22,500 in Germany and 13,500 in Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Defence said. Sir Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrats, backed the decision to rush British reinforcements in Kosovo. “There is a risk that the enormous gains made for Kosovo and the Balkans as a whole could be severely prejudiced by continuing unrest,” he said.