2010-03-27

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma said on Saturday he will sack up to 200 doctors and senior nurses who are one strike in and around the capital if they do not return to work on Monday.

The West African nation, which is still trying to recover from a 1991-2002 war and often lacks basic health services, has been crippled by a two week health workers' strike around the country over pay and conditions.

The government has drafted in the army and police to try to help out. Some workers have now accepted a deal but others, including an association of senior nurses and doctors in Freetown and other western areas, are holding out.

Koroma said in a statement that he had engaged in talks with unions and addressed issues including increases in salaries and allowances for transport and housing.

Therefore, continued strike action was illegal and anyone not at work on Monday would face dismissal, he said in the statement which was read out on state television.

The Sierra Leone Labour Congress, which says it represents the majority of workers in the health sector, has distanced itself from workers still on strike.

But a spokesman for the group which is holding out, complained they had not been engaged in dialogue. "We will continue our strike until our demands of salary, housing and transport allowances are address by the government," the spokesman said.

Donors have rallied around Sierra Leone since the end of the war and the nation's hopes for prosperity have been boosted by an oil find on its border with Liberia.

Last year rights group Amnesty International highlighted the poor health services in Sierra Leone with a report that said one in eight women risk dying during pregnancy or childbirth, giving the nation one of the highest maternal death rates in the world.