UN Peacekeepers Trying to Identify Corpses Found Near Freetown
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, WORLD NEWS: The United Nations is trying to determine whether bodies found in Sierra Leone are those of peacekeepers. The remains were discovered about 80 kilometers from the capital, Freetown. Some of the victims were wearing Zambian (ph) uniforms. Sierra Leone soldiers buried the bodies on Tuesday. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mysterious human remains in no-man's land. Government soldiers say they know to whom these bones belonged.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the bones of the United Nations peacekeeping force that were here.</s>WEDEMAN: The UN officials in Freetown want to thoroughly examine the remains before they come to any conclusions, and that won't be easy.</s>DAVID WIMHURST, UN SPOKESMAN: Well, even if we had IDs, they wouldn't be very good because these are skeletal remains largely. We don't ourselves have forensic capability. We have checked in Freetown, and there is no forensic laboratory available, which makes our task somewhat more difficult.</s>WEDEMAN: One day earlier, an amateur cameraman filmed the bodies before they were buried. Their uniforms were from the Zambian Army, which is serving with the UN peacekeeping force. But that's not confirmation the dead were actually UN troops. The rebels have stripped many of the UN peacekeepers they captured of their uniforms and their weapons. At the front, UN paraphernalia is a common sight, as are dead bodies. (on camera): I see you have a UN helmet.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>WEDEMAN: Can you tell me where you got that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I captured it from a rebel this morning.</s>WEDEMAN (voice-over): Trying to sort out the dead, the UN is having a hard enough time looking after the living. There is growing concern about the condition of the approximately 280 peacekeepers still in rebel hands. Those who have been released have been shielded from the media, but they report that conditions in captivity are not good.</s>WIMHURST: Generally speaking, it was not a pleasant ordeal for them, as you can probably understand. They were held against their will in difficult and trying circumstances.</s>WEDEMAN: Sierra Leone has been one of the UN's most trying peacekeeping missions. (on camera): In the last month, four peacekeepers have been killed and nearly 500 taken hostage. To many people here, the UN peacekeeping force simply isn't up to the task of keeping the peace. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Freetown.