o the Editor:

In "For Sierra Leone Ballot, Hope Trumps Despair" (news article, May 13), you say President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah "has always depended on outsiders for survival, first the West African peacekeepers, led by Nigerians, then the United Nations and Britain." In fact, he first depended on the South African private military company Executive Outcomes.

Six years ago, Executive Outcomes collaborated with local militias to rout the Revolutionary United Front rebels from Sierra Leone and support the elections that first brought Mr. Kabbah to power. With a peak strength of only 350 employees, the company was told to leave prematurely because at $800,000 per month it was "too expensive." A coup deposed Mr. Kabbah less than 100 days later, and the war started again. Now we have a United Nations mission requiring 17,500 people and already costing more than $1.5 billion.

If we are truly sick of watching the world's poorest people die in the world's most horrific conflicts, we should be using the private military sector.  
DOUG BROOKS
President, International Peace
Operations Association
Alexandria, Va., May 13, 2002