UNITED NATIONS, March 23 (UPI) -- Elections scheduled for November in Sierra Leone will be a "major challenge" for a country still coping with violence, a U.N. peacekeeping official said.
Elections in Sierra Leone will be the third since a decade-long civil war ended in 2002 and the second since peacekeepers left the country in 2005.
Michael von der Schulenburg, head of the U.N. Integrated Peacebuilding Mission in Sierra Leone, told members of the U.N. Security Council that November elections will be a crucial test for the country.
"The forthcoming elections in November will be the major challenge for the country's nascent democracy," he said.
Von der Schulenburg expressed concern over reports that the government imported assault weapons for the Operational Services Division, a paramilitary wing of the national police force. He said it was unclear why such weapons were needed given recent trends in improved security.
"Sierra Leone must pass this crucial test in its history without allowing the demons of the past to re-emerge," he cautioned.
Sierra Leone isn't subject to an arms embargo.
