When the 1,700-strong U.N. peacekeeping force was withdrawn from Sierra Leone on Dec. 31, the United Nations hailed the mission as one of its major political success stories in a continent ravaged by war and ethnic conflicts. "The (UN) mission was able to overcome a number of serious political and military challenges to become an effective peacekeeping operation that leaves Sierra Leone much better off today than it was five years ago," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan boasted last week.