The deputy chief of Defence Staff and spokesman for the defence ministry, Brigadier Nelson Williams, has said the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces have assisted the National Electoral Commission (NEC)with 80 vehicles as logistics for the August 11 polls.
At a press conference yesterday at the ministry of defence, the Brigadier said past elections were conducted by the UN unlike the coming elections which would be the responsibility of the government and would also give an opportunity to the RSLAF to play an integral role in supporting NEC to ensure the successful conduct of the polls.
Brigadier Nelson Williams said, “in accordance with the Military Aid To Civil Power (MACP) the RSLAF is tasked to provide logistical support to ensure that the 2007 elections and post run-off are conducted in a safe and secured environment.”
He said NEC approached the Office of the National Security (ONS) for vehicles and that they were later informed for which they provided their vehicles and drivers to NEC.
The military spokesman reconfirmed RSLAF’s neutrality and said their aid to NEC was not political but a goodwill gesture. In that vein, he went on, they received information from their transport squadron of threats posed to their vehicles and personnel attached in Bo and Moyamba, as being instruments of the SLPP government.
Brigadier Nelson Williams made it clear that the provision of absolute security from the reception and distribution of sensitive voting materials countrywide would be done by the Sierra Leone Police only.
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