Renegade Sierra Leone soldiers said yesterday they were committed to a peace agreement ending the civil war in the west African country, as ordinary people continued to celebrate in the capital, Freetown.
Nigeria will begin a phased withdrawal of troops from Sierra Leone following the peace deal signed on Wednesday, President Olusegun Obasanjo's spokesman said yesterday.
Mr Obasanjo promised during his election campaign earlier this year to pull Nigerian troops out of Sierra Leone as soon as possible.
Nigeria supplies the bulk of the 15,000 peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone with the west African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG.
The peace deal was signed in Lome, Togo, on Wednesday between President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the rebel leader, Mr Foday Sankoh, plus several west African heads of state and other interested parties.
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has been fighting successive Sierra Leonean governments since 1991. It rallied to a military junta from May 1997 and army soldiers then fought alongside the rebels when the junta was ousted by a Nigerian-led intervention force in February 1998.
A senior army officer turned rebel said in a village near Masiaka, about 50 miles from Freetown, that his men were committed to the peace deal.
"We want the world to know that this peace signed by President Kabbah and Cpl Foday Sankoh, we the fighters are definitely committed to it," Brig-Gen Ibrahim Sesay said.
"We hope the people of Sierra Leone will forgive, although it is not easy to forgive."
The rebels have been blamed for widespread atrocities against civilians, including murder, rape and amputations.
One victim, Ms Marie Sesay (18), was among the people of Freetown celebrating the news.
"Today I am happy that we have once again achieved peace for our country, although my hands have been amputated," she said. "I had my hands amputated by some of my own neighbours who told the rebels I was not in favour of them. May the Lord Almighty have mercy on them."
Prominent Freetown lawyer Mr Abu Cole applauded Mr Kabbah's resolve in the face of criticism from people opposed to negotiating with the rebels. "If our peace is to hold forever we need to forgive, and the UN should come in and start a disarmament programme immediately."
The UN General-Secretary, Mr Kofi Annan, on a short visit to Sierra Leone, said yesterday disarmament would be crucial to the peace deal between the government and RUF.
"Disarmament is a crucial and essential element of the peace accord," Mr Annan said, stressing that the UN observer mission here, UNOMSIL, would work "with all parties to ensure that they are rapidly disarmed".
He told a press briefing he had raised the issue with ECOMOG's commander, Gen Felix Mujakperu. Mr Annan, who also met President Kabbah, did not comment on the controversial amnesty granted tothe rebels under the accord ending nine years of civil war.
Several human rights organisations have condemned the amnesty, Human Rights Watch saying Sierra Leone has seen some of the world's worst violations of human rights during a conflict that has claimed more than 20,000 lives. Mr Annan visited a centre for amputees in Freetown housing some 200 victims of rebel atrocities.
"I am shocked by what I have seen," he said there, holding in his arms a toddler whose right arm had been amputated. "I hope the victims will take courage."
As Mr Annan, who is on a sixnation Africa tour, left for Monrovia, Mr Kabbah said in an address to parliament: "Sierra Leoneans have every reason to sing and dance for joy. Now we should embark on the long and painful journey of reconciliation."
The aid agency Concern has called for urgent international action to open humanitarian corridors in Sierra Leone.