Mr. Chairman, Heads of Government, Secretary-General, Distinguished Heads of Delegations.

It is with a special sense of pleasure and gratitude that I join in thanking Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Government and people of the United Kingdom for hosting this Meeting and do so with such generosity to my delegation among others.

This is the third major international meeting that I am attending in as many months, but this Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a summit apart. I am here because the Commonwealth takes its Harare Principles seriously. I am here because the Commonwealth believes in democratic legitimacy. I am here because the Commonwealth is true to itself And we in Sierra Leone have every reason to rejoice in a Commonwealth sworn to principle.

Mr. Chairman, Sierra Leone began life as an independent state here in the Commonwealth. Our independence and our membership of the Commonwealth were simultaneous events, falling on the same day. The Commonwealth was the First international Organisation that Sierra Leone joined and it was from her, In the Commonwealth, that we began to make new friends in the wider world, using the Commonwealth, as our Secretary-General would say, as the gateway. There is, therefore, hardly another international Organisation which occupies quite the same place in the affections of our people.

Mr. Chairman, this is no mere linguistic flourish. Sierra Leone, of course, belongs to other international groupings; but I do not think that I will be straining the point if I say that probably no other international Organisation knows as much about Sierra Leone as the Commonwealth or has been more solicitous of our interest. More recently, our democratic transition would hardly have been possible without the committed support or the Commonwealth.

The Nature of the Tragedy
Mr. Chairman, I do not need to recount to a Commonwealth Meeting what the Commonwealth did to assist in our democratic transition and subsequently with the Peace Talks between my government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leading the Abidjan Accord in November 1996. But I do need to tell you something about the tragedy which is unfolding in our country as a result of the coup of 25 May 1997. That coup has unleashed a reign of terror unparalleled in its scope and ferocity. It has transformed Sierra Leone into a gulag of horrors and barbarity in which the killing and mutilation of defenceless innocent -civilians, the looting and confiscation of property and rape are the order of the day. These atrocities and outrages continue as I speak to you. The people of Sierra Leone have been ushered into a long night of darkness. This is not the first coup in the history of our country. But it is the first time in the history of our country that a coup has put in question the survival of our national society as a morally and socially cohesive unit.

Mr. Chairman, I would be dissembling if I did not tell you that I appear at the Summit as a man of sorrows. The people of Sierra Leone are engaged in a desperate struggle for survival as they have not had to do so since the days of slavery. The insecurity engendered by the slave trade which took such a toll on our people is nothing compared to the fear and insecurity unleashed by the alliance of elements of the army and the RUF which is the illegal regime in Freetown today. The coup has brought the people of Sierra Leone as a whole to the brink of an abyss and only a resolute stand by the international community based on principle can I avert the fate which the regime has ordered for them.

The Way Forward
Mr. Chairman, the OAU and ECOWAS in turn Formulated an agreed international formula for the resolution of the crisis. It is a three-point programme elaborated by the Committee of Foreign Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): "the early reinstatement of the legitimate Government of President Tajan Kabbah, the return of peace and security and the resolution of the issues of refugees and displaced persons." This three point programme has been the basis of tile negotiations between the ECOWAS Committee of Five and the regime.

Mr. Chairman, as a patriot and as a responsible leader, it is my fervent wish that this crisis - in essence a family tragedy - should be brought to a speedy end and in the most peaceful manner which the prevailing conditions will allow. I have said this elsewhere and I repeat it here within the sanctity of out, wider Commonwealth family. But I do so without any realistic hope that the regime will see reason. The regime’s bad faith, however, is proverbial and therein lies part of the problem. All the same, I do not wish to sound rancorous. I am not only prepared to address the other two matters in the three point programme upon the restoration of my Government, I am also prepared, in the higher national interest, to address other issues which have a bearing on peace, stability and lasting reconciliation.

This makes it all the more urgent that the crisis be resolved without any further delay. I believe this is also the objective of this meeting. Accordingly, to achieve our shared objective, I would strongly urge the following:

• the continued Political and diplomatic isolation of the regime;
• full Commonwealth support and co-operation in the implementation of the measures Contained in Security Council Resolution 1132 of 7 October 1997; and
• Commonwealth support for the ECOWAS efforts to help resolve the Sierra Leone crisis, Including especially the provision of logistical support.

SIERRA LEONE
Mr. Chairman, I would like to conclude my statement by referring to the most recent development in the Sierra Leone crisis. While I was in Edinburgh I learnt that in agreement had been reached between the military junta and ECOWAS to end the crisis. As I understand it, the elements of that agreement include the restoration or my Government on 22 April 1998, the immediate cessation of hostilities throughout Sierra Leone, the disarmament and demobilization of combatants and the return of refugees and displaced persons.

This agreement, if confirmed, would appear to contain some positive elements and which we can build. But at this stage I do not know more than the bare outlines and I have still to be full briefed and responsibly advised on both the details and the substance. If it proves broadly acceptable, we will need the continued support of the Commonwealth to translate it into reality.

But as I said earlier the junta is a notoriously slippery customer. This agreement should not therefore be allowed to stand in the way or the measures which this Meeting will need to adopt to compel the restoration of the democratically elected Government. Only when we are satisfied that the agreement holds the prospect of a lasting settlement and only when that settlement process has reached irreversibility will my Government advise the Commonwealth and the wider international community to relax the pressures against the regime.

NIGERIA
This brings me to the question of Nigeria. Ever since it became independent in 1960, Nigeria has been IL force for peace and stability in Africa and indeed in the wider world. We in West Africa have cause to be particularly grateful to Nigeria. Without Nigeria’s committed involvement, the Liberia civil war could not have been brought to an end. Today, Nigeria’s role is equally critical to the resolution of the crisis in my country.

It is for these and other reasons that Nigeria’s present difficulties with the Commonwealth are a source of grave concern to us. The Commonwealth must of course remain faithful to its Harare Principles; but we also hope that its present differences with Nigeria will continue to be viewed as no more than a temporary family rift which can and must be healed in the interest of all concerned putting the continued unity of the family above all else.