Eyewitness: Sierra Leone army riding high

The army says it has cleared the area around Freetown

By Barnaby Phillips in Waterloo, Sierra Leone

On the attack and full of high spirits, Sierra Leonean government soldiers in Waterloo, about 20 miles outside the capital Freetown, say they are pushing forward and that the rebels are taking a beating.

Captain Francis Kylie has just returned from the front line.

The situation is normal - no problem with rebels

Civilian

"As far as I know, Masiaka is calm and quiet, no cause to complain," he said. "Our men are covering this area and I'm sure we have been able to repel the rebels back as far as behind Masiaka.

"Maybe there are some splinter groups of rebels around that area but we've been able to flush them out. Now they have crossed they could be somewhere behind Masiaka now."

'Benefit of the doubt'

Just one week ago Waterloo was deserted. Now the place is buzzing. The civilians who fled in their thousands to the comparative safety of Freetown have all come back.

This is a dirty conflict in which the losers can expect no mercy

"No problem," said one man. "Everything is nice. The situation is normal. No problem with rebels.

"We have no rebels around here again."

People here have been let down by soldiers in the past but now they seem prepared to give the army the benefit of the doubt. The soldiers themselves say they are waging a just war.

Sierra Leonean soldiers are in a positive mood

"I fight this war because of a bunch of hooligans who want to spoil our future of this country," said one government soldier. "If we come together and realise that this country belongs to them, to all of us, so they should not spoil it.

"That's why we are fighting."

But this is a dirty conflict in which the losers can expect no mercy. One suspected rebel had been locked up by the police in a rusty old container. He had been stripped naked, his arms bound behind his back. He was covered in blood and his eyes were wide open with fear.

"Please stop and loose me," he said. "I am innocent of everything.

"I am not Foday Sankoh."

Intelligence advice

Police Inspector Umaru Banguka said he would hand this man on to the army but he said there were other rebels at large near Waterloo.

"I have just received information that another two rebels are in the bush here so I've just sent my personnel for them - they have gone already," he said.

He told me there appeared to be many rebels infiltrating still around the area.

The government army is now heading further up the road. The British special forces in Waterloo are almost certainly supplying them with intelligence.

The Freetown peninsula is much safer, but whether the government is capable of going on to capture rebel strongholds to the north and east is a very different matter.