Troops Push Rebels Farther From Freetown

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Soldiers and pro-government militia here drove rebel forces farther from the capital Thursday, an army spokesman said, as the government moved to head off a feared guerrilla offensive.

The fighting near Newton, 25 miles east of Freetown, came as U.N. peacekeeping troops and pro-government forces geared up for a possible Revolutionary United Front advance on the nervous capital, where thousands of frightened villagers have sought sanctuary in recent days.

The battle pitted the recently rearmed Sierra Leone army and the pro-government Kamajors--a militia made up of traditional hunters--against RUF rebels, army spokesman Prince Nicol said.

U.N. peacekeepers were not involved in Thursday’s fighting, U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said in Freetown. But he said they did come under rebel fire overnight there and along a key highway at Port Loko, 65 miles northeast of Freetown.

In Washington, President Clinton dispatched the Rev. Jesse Jackson to the region as a special envoy in an effort to halt “a return to all-out war.” The president also directed U.S. military officials to hasten efforts to ferry in more international peacekeepers.

The rebels have seized more than 500 U.N. personnel.