Airstrip One

Withdrawal from Sierra Leone

Now that political stability has returned to Sierra Leone, the United States consider the location important enough to construct a logistics depot, providing a base for African troops to provide humanitarian assistance and conflict resolution in West Africa.

The UK peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone has now officially ended its mission with two hundred soldiers returning to base. One hundred soldiers are left training the Sierra Leonean security forces and the UK is committed to returning troops if the country should return to instability. However, their role is replaced, in a low-key manner, by the United States acting within the West African theatre and unable to rely upon its traditional base in the region, wartorn Liberia.

Whilst one would welcome the reduction of British overseas commitments, this withdrawal is probably a pigeon step undertaken to prepare for the war in Iraq.