United Nations Security Council Resolution 1313

by the United Nations

Adopted by the Security Council at its 4184th meeting, on 4 August 2000

The Security Council,

Recalling all its previous resolutions and the statements of its President concerning the situation in Sierra Leone,

Condemning in the strongest terms the armed attacks against and detention of the personnel of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), and commending UNAMSIL and the Force Commander for the recent resolute action taken in response to the continuing threat towards the mission from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and other armed elements in Sierra Leone,

Having considered the reports of the Secretary-General of 19 May 2000 (S/2000/455) and 31 July 2000 (S/2000/751),

1. Decides to extend the mandate of UNAMSIL until 8 September 2000;

2. Considers that the widespread and serious violations of the Lomé Peace Agreement (S/1999/777) by the RUF since early May 2000 constitute a breakdown of the prior generally permissive environment based on the Agreement and predicated on the cooperation of the parties, that until security conditions have been established allowing progress towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Sierra Leone there will continue to be a threat to UNAMSIL and the security of the state of Sierra Leone, and that in order to counter that threat, the structure, capability, resources and mandate of UNAMSIL require appropriate strengthening;

3. Expresses its intention, in this context, taking into account the views of the Government of Sierra Leone, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the troop-contributing countries, to strengthen the mandate of UNAMSIL as established in its resolutions 1270 (1999) of 22 October 1999 and 1289 (2000) of 7 February 2000 with the following priority tasks:

(a) To maintain the security of the Lungi and Freetown peninsulas, and their major approach routes;

(b) To deter and, where necessary, decisively counter the threat of RUF attack by responding robustly to any hostile actions or threat of imminent and direct use of force;

(c) To deploy progressively in a coherent operational structure and in sufficient numbers and density at key strategic locations and main population centres and, in coordination with the Government of Sierra Leone to assist, through its presence and within the framework of its mandate, the efforts of the Government of Sierra Leone to extend state authority, restore law and order and further stabilize the situation progressively throughout the entire country, and, within its capabilities and areas of deployment, to afford protection to civilians under threat of imminent physical violence;

(d) To patrol actively on strategic lines of communication, specifically main access routes to the capital in order to dominate ground, ensure freedom of movement and facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance;

(e) To assist in the promotion of the political process leading, inter alia, to a renewed disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme where possible;

4. Considers that, in order to allow the restructuring of the force and provide the additional capability required for the achievement of the priority tasks set out in paragraph 3 above, the military component of UNAMSIL should be reinforced through accelerated troop rotations, as appropriate, and with, inter alia, further aviation and maritime assets, a strengthened force reserve, upgraded communications and specialist combat and logistic support assets;

5. Recognizes that the RUF offensive against UNAMSIL since May 2000 revealed serious inherent weaknesses in the mission’s structure, command and control and resources, as referred to in paragraph 54 of the report of the Secretary- General of 31 July 2000, reflecting findings of the United Nations Assessment Mission which visited Sierra Leone from 31 May to 8 June 2000, welcomes the recommendations made and action already taken to address these deficiencies, and requests the Secretary-General to take further urgent steps to implement these recommendations to improve the performance and capacity of the mission;

6. Stresses that the successful achievement of the objectives of the mission, including the priority tasks set out in paragraph 3 above, will depend on the provision to UNAMSIL of fully equipped, complete units, with the required capabilities, effective command and control structure and capacity, a single chain of command, adequate resources and the commitment to implement the mandate of the mission in full as authorized by the Security Council;

7. Requests the Secretary-General, after further consultations with troop contributing countries, to provide a further report to the Council as soon as possible on the proposals in paragraphs 2 to 6 above with recommendations for the restructuring and strengthening of UNAMSIL, and expresses its intention to take a decision on those recommendations expeditiously;

8. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.