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Sierra Leone rebel chief scorns UN Former Sierra Leonean rebel leader Foday Sankoh has told United Nations peacekeepers that the UN has no reason to be in Sierra Leone. "We have no business with you. You are not helping us," Mr Sankoh said in a speech to Kenyan officers serving with the local UN peacekeeping force. The speech which the leader of the Revolutionary United Front delivered two weeks ago, was later printed in the Sierra Leonean newspaper the Concord Times. Last year's peace accord granted places in government to RUF members - a move sharply crtiticised by human rights organisations which said the RUF had used widespread killings, rapes and mutilations to gain a place at the negotiating table after the nine-year war. The head of the UN mission in Sierra Leone has responded that he was "amazed" by Mr Sankoh's remarks, "which could only have incited his audience against the Sierra Leone peace process". Mr Sankoh said the presence of an armed Foday Sankoh: UN "not helping us" [UN presence] a threat to the security of our people Foday Sankoh Africa Contents Country profiles Search BBC News Online GO Advanced search options BBC RADIO NEWS BBC ONE TV NEWS WORLD NEWS SUMMARY BBC NEWS 24 BULLETIN PROGRAMMES GUIDE See also: 02 Feb 00 | Africa Rape, mutilation continue in Sierra Leone 24 May 99 | Africa Analysis: Battle to rebuild shattered Sierra Leone 23 Jan 00 | Africa Sierra Leone diamond trade halted 02 Dec 99 | Africa Gurkhas to tackle Sierra Leone troublespot 30 Nov 99 | Africa UN troops arrive in Sierra Leone 22 Nov 99 | Africa Sierra Leone rebels form political party 13 Feb 99 | Africa Grim facts of Sierra Leone's war Internet links: UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone Sierra Leone Web Sierra Leone's Concord Times The BBC is not responsible for the content of external peacekeeping force was "a threat to the security of our people". "Our people need peace here, they don't need guns. If you see around us, you don't need guns, you don't see any gun with me, but we can fight with our guns, it's simple, just like that. "We started with sticks and captured even helicopters, I'm not talking about destroying jet bombers. So there's no need for you people to be here." He said President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah had encouraged the presence of the peacekeepers "because he feels he has influence with the United Nations, or international community". Mr Sankoh said he and his followers had been fighting against colonialism - which he called "the highest stage of capitalism". 'Politicians made us poor' In an apparent reference to the Sierra Leone political establishment represented by President Kabbah, he said: "The agents of colonial masters called politicians made our people poor. "This is why we have been fighting. We are not against our people. We are against a rotten system. "We have been misunderstood. Still fighting, but we decided to put the guns behind us." UN peacekeepers arrived as part of a peace agreement [Kofi Annan] just a nuisance in Africa Foday Sankoh Links to other Africa stories are at the foot of the page. internet sites He also hit out at the UN Secretary-General, Ghanaian Kofi Annan. "He's just a nuisance in Africa, being used by world war power against his own brothers," Mr Sankoh said. 'Unwarranted personal attack' Oluyemi Adeniji, head of the UN mission in Sierra Leone, issued a statement pointing out that the Lome peace agreement, signed by Mr Sankoh, provided for the creation of a neutral peacekeeping force including United Nations troops. The statement said Mr Sankoh had made an "unwarranted personal attack" on Mr Annan, "in terms most unbecoming of a leader". "For Mr Sankoh to assert that the resolution is contrary to the interest of the Sierra Leone people can be interpreted as indicative of a hidden agenda which will certainly be unattainable through the presence of the United Nations peacekeepers," the statement read. "The special representative would hope that Mr Sankoh has no such hidden agenda and that his propositions merely arose out of misunderstanding." The statement concluded with "fraternal advice that the revolutionary rhetoric of the 1960s, which is meaningless today, can only confuse simple minds, but will not enhance credibility in the African and the wider international community". The revolutionary rhetoric of the 1960s, which is meaningless today, can only confuse simple minds UN representative Oluyemi Adeniji The special representative would hope that Mr Sankoh has no such hidden agenda and that his propositions merely arose out of misunderstanding Oluyemi Adenij