The war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has opened amid dramatic scenes in The Hague, with the accused refusing to attend.
Charles Taylor Trial, Prosecution Opening Statement
PROSECUTION VS. CHARLES GANKAY TAYLOR
PROSECUTION OPENING STATEMENT
Stephen Rapp, The Prosecutor
Mohamed Bangura, Trial Attorney
PART 1: GLOBAL OVER VIEW
MR. RAPP
A. INTRODUCTION
Your Honours, I rise to begin the Opening Statement of the Prosecution of its cases against the Accused. I will be joined in this presentation by my learned colleague, Trial Attorney Mohamed Bangura. In my part, I will provide a general outline of our case, stating what we believe the evidence with show about the pattern of conduct for which we allege the Accused is responsible, and to explain how that alleged conduct was criminal under our Statute as charged in the Second Amended Indictment.
In rising I first want to state my appreciation to our hosts the International Criminal Court, and the Government and people of the Netherlands. I ask want to recognize all of those who have worked at the Special Court, both at the present and in the past, to bring us to this historic day. In that regard, I would like to take special note of the presence today in the gallery, of the first Registrar, Robin Vincent, and my predecessors as Prosecutors, David Crane, and Sir Desmond de Silva.
During the trial, we will seek at all times to ensure that it embodies the fundamental principles of fairness, due process and justice that, along with the other trials at the Special Court and help ensure a future respect for law and the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society. We acknowledge at the outset of this important judicial exercise the responsibility of the Prosecution to bear the burden of proving the charges against the Accused in our Indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.
What my learned colleague, Mr. Bangura, and myself will say in this Opening is not evidence. Rather, it is an introduction of the evidence which we will lead against the Accused and, therefore, which will eventually be weighed by your Honours in your final deliberations. If there is a conflict between what is said here today and what is admitted into evidence, it is of course that evidence you will exclusively consider.
As Your Honours are well aware, this Special Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed after 30 November 1996, and because many of these were war crimes, we have generally limited our focus to the period before 18 January 2002, when Sierra Leone President Kabbah declared the war to be at an end. However, there are events outside this timeframe that must be described in order to understand the suffering visited on the people of Sierra Leone during this period.
It is because we are seeking justice for the people of Sierra Leone that we are here today.
How are we to grasp what happened in Sierra Leone? The world knows part of the story. A small West African nation on the Atlantic Ocean. From it in the late 1990s came images in the media of some of the ugliest scenes of viciousness in recent memory. Human beings, young and old multilated, rebels chopping off arms and legs, and gauging out eyes; girls and women enslaved and sexually violated. Children carrying out some of the worst crimes. The exploitation of the resources of Sierra Leone to kill and maim and its citizens. The very worst that human beings are capable of doing to one another
For those not there it almost impossible to comprehend the horrors suffered by the people of the country.
How did this happen?
Sierra Leone has not been without its problems, and by the early 1990s its citizens had grievances against the government in place. But it also had many successes, and was a land of near constant peace… Its capital, Freetown, where the seat of this Court is based, was named for the freed slaves who settled it. It was the site of the first English speaking university in Africa, established almost two centuries ago. The city would come to be described by domestic and foreign observers alike as “the Athens of Africa.” There was not a history of ethnic hatred or religious conflict. There were not the ancient rivalries that one often sees where great atrocities have been committed.One of our early witnesses, who saw hundreds of victims will offer evidence of his observations, as contained in his statements disclosed to the defence that there had been no animosity between any of group of Sierra Leoneans, be it tribes, be it religious groups, there had been nothing. There was not a war between these groups, but terror rained down on the people of Sierra Leone.
How does one thus understand this rain of terror?
The defence has provided a pre-trial brief asserting the non-involvement of the Accused, best summed up by learned counsel in the public quotation of line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar “The fault lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.” From his explanation it is clear that the Accused is a star without fault. The ourselves who bear the blame and the true responsibility for the horrors visited upon the people of Sierra Leone? Apparently, Sierra Leone itself. The savagery experienced was part of a national predisposition that was there all along, dormant for so many years, then set off without any external catalyst. In short, Sierra Leone has only itself to blame.
That is not view of the Prosecution, and it is not what the evidence will show.
The witnesses that we will call and the documents that we will present will prove that the Accused is responsible for the development and execution of a plan that caused the death and destruction in Sierra Leone. The plan, formulated by the Accused and others, was to take over political and physical control of Sierra Leone in order to exploit its abundant natural resources and to establish a friendly or subordinate government there to facilitate this exploitation.
Your Honours will hear in this address that within this overall plan, there were sub-plans, strategies, operations ….
The parties engaged in a multitude of activities designed to fulfil the overall plan.
The Accused’s involvement in the crimes alleged in the Indictment took a variety of forms - planning, instigating, ordering, committing, aiding and abetting in the commission of the alleged crimes, and otherwise participating in the execution of a common plan, design or purpose. Additionally, we allege that he is responsible because persons under his effective control committed the crimes, for which he had knowledge or reason to know, and he failed to prevent or punish their conduct.
The Accused stands indicted for eleven crimes under the statute of the SCSL.
Counts in Second Amended Indictment number eleven:
five counts of crimes against humanity - those being murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, and inhumane acts against the civilian population of SL. five counts of war crimes - those being terrorising the civilian population of SL, violence to live - in particular murder and cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and pillage (looting of civilian property), and
one count of other serious violations of international humanitarian law - being the conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups, or using them to participate actively in hostilities. The Prosecution alleges that these crimes occurred in Sierra Leone between 30 November 1996 and 18 January 2002.
It is in fact one over-arching crime, a campaign of terror, itself a war crime, but also committed through violent acts that are in this context also crimes. These component crimes acts included killing, physical violence such as mutilations, sexual assaults such as rape, sexual slavery and other outrages, enslavement of forced labour, the recruitment and combat use of children, the burning that killed and maimed human beings, and together with looting and pillage that, in many cases, deprived them of all that they had built.
As we will explain in greater detail, they are crimes against international humanitarian law, as enshrined in our Statute, because of connection to armed conflict and because they were committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.
This common plan amounted to or involved the commission of the crimes alleged in the Amended Indictment.
From its inception, the Accused and other participants in the common plan used criminal means to achieve and hold political power and physical control over the civilian population of Sierra Leone. These criminal means involved the campaign of terror waged against the civilian population of Sierra Leone that I have described.
The crimes identified in the indictment were within the objective of the common criminal plan or were natural and foreseeable consequences of it. As one of the members of the common criminal plan, the Accused was fully aware of the horrific consequences that its implementation would visit on the civilian population of Sierra Leone, did nothing to prevent or punish these crimes and indeed continued to act in ways that caused or aided their commission.
B. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO SIERRA LEONE AND THE REGION
It is important to note that Sierra Leone is located in a region where borders exist only on paper. These lines were drawn during the colonial period, and do not follow ethnic or linguistic groups. Many in up-country border areas have closer relations to people across the borders than to those in their capital cities.
Sierra Leone is divided into 12 districts, plus the Western Area that includes the capital Freetown.
Liberia is divided into 15 counties, and its capital Monrovia.
Our Amended Indictment focuses on six district or areas in Sierra Leone,
Its diamond resources are found in Kono and Kenema Districts.
Kono District – Koidu, Tombudu, Yengema
Kenema District – Tongo Fields (Cyborg Pit)
Kailahun District will be an important focus of our evidence because it was long-term corridor between Sierra Leone and and Lofa County in Liberia.
Now I will turn to the evidence we intend to present in support of our case.
C. HISTORY - COMMON PLAN AND NATURE OF THE ACCUSED PARTICIPATION
To fully understand the crimes that are described in the indictment and the central role that the Accused had in the commission of them, it's important to look at the history and understand the major political events that led to the campaign of terror against the civilian population of Sierra Leone.
The jurisdiction of this court is limited by the Statute of the Court to crimes committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996. The crimes charged in this indictment were indeed committed between that date and the end of the Sierra Leone war on 18 January 2002. However, the planning and preparation of these crimes began long before 1996 and critical acts which furthered the plan and led to the crimes often occurred far from the borders of Sierra Leone. The evidence will show that the Accused’s plan to control territory of Sierra Leone through a campaign of terror began at least in 1991 when forces supported by Charles Taylor including many of his own Liberian NPFL soldiers first invaded the territory of Sierra Leone.
To understand the Accused’s motivation and his links to other members of the common plan and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and their Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) allies, one must examine evidence going back to this period and further understand the international context in which the Accused’s intervention in Sierra Leone took place. It is necessary to understand the Accused’s own rise to power in Liberia and the ends to which he was prepared to go to achieve same, his links to allies in the region, and why he saw others as obstacles to his rule. One cannot fully understand the Accused’s ability to influence and control forces in Sierra Leone without some understanding of the uniquely personal nature of the accused leadership of his armed forces, political party and government. That relationship often went far outside the de jure chain of command and ensured that these subordinates understood that the Accused had the power and will to reward those that assisted his plans and punish or destroy those that displeased him. By the time the crimes charged in this indictment took place, the Accused had well established relationships with those on the ground in Sierra Leone who carried out the crimes. The RUF and its allies in Sierra Leone were clearly dependant on the accused and the individual commanders understood his power to reward or punish each of them.
Moreover, many of the crimes committed by the rebel forces supported by the Accused in Sierra Leone mirrored crimes that had been committed by the Accused’s forces in Liberia. The RUF trained and learnt war and methods of guerilla warfare in Liberia with Taylor’s NPFL. An example is the recruitment of child soldiers. The rebel forces in Sierra Leone carried out wide-scale recruitment of children, as was done by the NPFL in Liberia and organized and utilized these children in their military campaign against the civilian population of Sierra Leone in the same manner they were organized and utilized in Liberia. The most obvious proof that the crimes committed by the RUF and allied forces in Sierra Leone were foreseeable is the fact that very similar crimes were carried out by the NPFL in Liberia..
Further, the Prosecution submits it will be essential for this court to examine evidence of the Accused’s actions after the indictment period. The Prosecution will seek to introduce evidence of post-offence conduct, in particular, the murders of men who were in the Accused’s inner circle and who were aware of the crimes perpetrated by the Accused. The evidence will show that these men were eliminated so as to not to expose the Accused, which is behaviour going to the accused’s consciousness of his criminal responsibility for the crimes in Sierra Leone that come under the jurisdiction of this Court.
Of course, the Accused did not participate in this common plan alone. He was a major figure who worked closely and in concert with others in both Liberia and Sierra Leone to achieve the objectives of the enterprise.
In Liberia, the Accused’s key subordinates who were directly involved in the conflict in Sierra Leone for the relevant period were:
BENJAMIN YEATEN AKA “50” OR “GENERAL 50”
Benjamin Yeaten aka “50”- was the right hand man of the Accused. The only man Yeaten took orders from was the Accused - no one else. This man, the Director of the Liberian Special Security Service, was also the principal liaison officer between and Accused and his forces in Sierra Leone and the Accused, at the very centre of every single aspect of Liberia’s involvement in the Sierra Leonean conflict.
(Another Liberian): IBRAHIM BAH AKA GENERAL IBRAHIM AKA “BALDE”Ibrahim Bah – this man, a Senegalese, from Cassamance, was part of the Accused’s trusted inner circle. While he had no formal title, he played a central role in directly setting up most of the arms and diamonds transactions for the Accused involving Sierra Leone.
DANIEL TAMBA AKA “JUNGLE”
Daniel Tamba aka “Jungle”- the bodyguard of Yeaten and main liaison officer between those on the ground in Sierra Leone and Yeaten from 1997 onwards. Jungle was instrumental in the delivery of arms and ammunition to Sierra Leone and also the main provider of reports direct from Sierra Leone to the Accused and Yeaten. Jungle’s relationship with the RUF was based on links forged on the ground in Sierra Leone with many of the RUF prior to 1997. The evidence will show that he is one of the individuals murdered in 2003 to prevent his turning against and exposing the Accused
MUSA SESAY AKA MUSA CISSE
Musa Sesay – the Accused’s Chief of Protocol – instrumental in setting up arms deals for Liberia and Sierra Leone. Was involved in important meetings with RUF commanders.
Other Liberians who were under the direct command and control of the Accused and whose names will feature prominently in supplying arms to Sierra Leone or in using the RUF forces in Liberia’s own civil war, were:
SAMPSON WEAH
A member of the Liberian SSS bodyguard of Yeaten.
CHRISTOPHER VARMOH AKA “LIBERIAN MOSQUITO”,
JOE TUAH,
DUOPO MERKAZON, and
ROLAND DUOH
– all commanders in first circle of the military forces of the Accused.
CHUCKIE TAYLOR
Charles Taylor (son of the Accused) - first commander of the ATu in 1998.
From the Sierra Leone side, the senior leaders who operated under the Accused’s effective control and who were, in effect, his Sierra Leonean subordinates:
FODAY SANKOH
Foday Sankoh –founder and leader of the Revolutionary United Front (“RUF”). Agreed on and launched the common plan with the Accused. A former comrade in arms of the Accused, whose shared experiences together stretched back many years to the training camps of North Africa.
SAM BOCKARIE AKA “MOSQUITO”
Sam Bockarie – Commander in Chief of the RUF on the ground in 1998 and for most 1999. “Mosquito”, or as the Sierra Leoneans would say, “Maskita”, played the lead role in the link between the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance. An indictee of the Special Court, the evidence will show that he was then murdered in 2003, another of the individuals eliminated to prevent his turning against and exposing the Accused
ISSA SESAY
Issa Sesay –SCSL indictee (RUF case). Sierra Leonean - Between 1998 and 1999, this man was Maskita’s deputy. Became the interim leader of the RUF in 2000 and 2001. Was a central link between the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance.
Other key individuals, whose names the Court will hear:
MORRIS KALLON and AUGUSTINE GBAO
High ranking officers of the RUF who played an important role in the link between the AFRC/RUF alliance and the Accused.
DENNIS MINGO AKA “SUPERMAN”
Dennis Mingo - Liberian – an NPFL commander who stayed with the RUF early on - one of the highest commanders in the RUF – he played an important part in the link with the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance. He was killed in 2001.
JOHNNY PAUL KOROMA
Johnny Paul Koroma – Sierra Leonean, a former member of the SLA, Chairman of the AFRC Junta in 1997 and 1998 and in that time played an important role in the link between the Accused and AFRC/RUF. An indictee of the SCSL, whereabouts unknown.
ALEX TAMBA BRIMA AKA “GULLIT” BRIMA BAZZY KAMARA, and SANTIGIE BORBOR KANU AKA “55”
Of course they are Accused that are on trial before Your Honours, and here I will only say that he will present evidence in this trial to show that played a role in the linkage between the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance.
EDDIE KANNEH
Eddie Kanneh - Sierra Leonean - former SLA officer who joined the RUF in 1998; main diamond man for the AFRC /RUF alliance in the dealings with the Accused especially from 1998 onwards,
and others whose names you will become familiar with during the course of this trial. Like the Accused, each member of the criminal enterprise participated in and contributed to the common plan in different ways.
Begins in
1988 or 1989: military training in North Africa, of Charles Taylor (Liberia), Foday Sankoh (SL) and other later leaders of the RUF. A plan is formulated by the Accused and others to take over political and physical control of Sierra Leone in order to exploit its abundant natural resources and to establish a friendly or subordinate government there to facilitate this exploitation.
Part of larger strategy included helping each other militarily in their respective revolutions and take over in their respective countries.
Creation of National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) (Liberian movement), the RUF (SL movement).
The agreement made by the Accused and Sankoh was to begin the implementation of the common plan in Liberia with the help of Sankoh’s forces. Liberia would then be used as a base from which to move into Sierra Leone with the help of the Accused’s forces.
Access to Sierra Leone’s abundant resources was the primary object of the common plan. In addition, Sierra Leone was also a source of manpower. The RUF and the NPFL personnel at various points were interchangeable, with NPFL forces sometimes fighting in Sierra Leone, and RUF forces fighting in Liberia.
Some may say that the RUF was fighting in Sierra Leone was one of national liberation. The evidence will show that there was a thin veneer of ideology masking the real motives of destruction and exploitation.
At the very end of 1989, the relevant events begin to unfold in the region:
24 December 1989: Beginning of the Liberian civil war with attack by NPFL in Nimba County in Liberia (from positions in Ivory Coast). Help in that civil war from RUF OFA elements By August 1990: The Economic Community of West African States deployed a peacekeeping force, under the leadership of Nigeria and Ghana, known as ECOMOG to enforce a ceasefire in Liberia, and to establish stability to make way for elections. Its deployment was opposed by Taylor, and it is soon in conflict with his forces. The then government of Sierra Leone, under President Momoh, was a contributing member, and allowed ECOMOG to be based on its territory. By November 1990, the Accused has firm control over large parts of Liberia. He was the regular guestost of Robin White on the BBC. 1 November 1990: He is interviewed by White, the broadcast of which you will hear. Taylor says: CT: … I have had enough of the Sierra Leonean Government permitting Nigerian aircraft to come out and kill my people. I'm saying that planes are taking off from bases at the international airport in Freetown at the end of the runway that leave and come and blow Liberian babies, women and old people away and my patience has run out in Momoh permitting this to happen from his territory.
RW: But how exactly do you propose to stop it?
CT: It's anybody's guess. Maybe Momoh doesn't know but he'll soon find out.
RW: Are you, are you suggesting that you will go and attack Sierra Leone yourself?
CT: That's not what I'm saying, but it's for Momoh to determine.
It is important also to know that during this 1989-1991 period, there was Training of Sierra Leoneans in Camp Nama outside Gbarnga (BANGA) in Bong County, Taylor’s headquarters, by mainly NPFL Liberians instructors: SL trained in Liberia called Vanguards: Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, Augustine Gbao all Vanguards. On 23 March 1991 there was a cross border attack on Bomaru town, Upper Bambara Chiefdom, by NPFL forces.
On 27 March 1991, a group of RUF/NPFL entered Kailahun District from Liberia through the town of Koindu in the north of the District.
On 28 March 1991, another RUF/NPFL group crossed the Moa River forming the border between Liberia and Sierra Leone, in the south-east part of the country. They immediately occupied Zimmi, the southern-most town on the road network in Pujehun District.
Early in April 1991, the Liberians launched the attack on a full scale and my mid-April had joined their fronts in Sierra Leone.
The continuing role of Taylor will clearly be shown by a letter from Sankoh to Taylor of 5 May 1992, that will be offered in evidence:
“Dear Brother:
I am thanking you very much for the brotherly help you are rendering me in my liberation struggle…”
“I appreciate the five boxes of AK-47 raffle ammunition and ten boxes of RPG gun rockets which I should receive from you today… I believe that what you have offered is not enough to carry out the “Operation Capture Daru”. So I am asking you in the name of the Almighty God to kindly increase the number of boxes of AK-47 ammunition to (20) twenty and that of the RPG rockets to (12) twelve plus some berretta rounds. This will sustain me for some time while awaiting the long term supply that you have promised me.”
1991-1992: First period of the SL civil war and total involvement of the NPFL in the war with massive atrocities committed against civilians by NPFL. Supplies coming from the Accused in Liberia who is directing the war in SL.
RUF/NPFL troops gain ground in the first period of the war. Took Kono in 1992 - the diamonds fields are attacked and taken for a short time.
In 1991-1992, Ibrahim Bah creates ties with the RUF of Sankoh and on behalf of the Accused starts to organize and set up some arms shipments for the RUF from third countries.
Regular shipments of arms and ammunition by trucks by the Accused from Gbarnga in Liberia to the RUF in SL using the only main road in Lofa County
It must be remembered that that these weapons do not dissolve, melt or go away, they stay in the country, and are used repeatedly in conflicts in years far beyond 1991-1992, in preparation for activities in years to come.
1992-1993: The conflict continues in Sierra Leone, but on the Liberian side there is new force the (Y)ULIMO (United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia) which leads rebellion in Lofa County (bordering SL) and cut the main road in the County (Zorzor-Voinjama) where arms and ammunition used to go from Gbarnga in Liberia to Sierra Leone. From that time until 1996-1997 no deliveries of arms and ammunition from the Accused to RUF by trucks. But, ongoing communications and movements of troops from NPFL to RUF, Liberia to SL, continued, using footpaths. 1992-1994: Some RUF elements fought alongside the NPFL and other organized armed groups in Lofa County against the ULIMO in attempts to re-establish the supply line and the supply route. March 1994: As a result of the end of the Accused’s deliveries of weapons to Sierra Leone, the RUF decided to change tactics and to retreat within the bush in SL and do hit and run operations. Creation in the forest of the base Zogoda in the Kambui Hills in Kenema district which will remain the RUF base until end 1996. Sometime between 1993 and 1996: Some NPFL troops pushed by ULIMO out of Lofa County and retreated to RUF held territories in SL. They fight in Sierra Leone alongside the RUF until the Accused became President in 1997. One of the Liberian commanders of these fighters was Daniel Tamba aka “Jungle” who, because of his past links with the RUF, became the main liaison officer for the Accused between Liberia and SL from 1997 onwards. There is an ebb and flow of the conflict in Sierra Leone, and in February-March 1996, Abdul Tejan Kabbah is elected President of Sierra Leone after two rounds of the presidential election. The polling is characterized by RUF violence to prevent public participation in the election.
There is eventually a peace agreement signed at Abidjan in Ivory Coast in November 1996 between the RUF and the Kabbah government.
However, there is a coup in Sierra Leone, less than six months after the Abidjan peace accord, when the by the soldiers of the Sierra Leone Army launched which overthrew the government of President Kabbah.
Following this coup, the RUF entered into an alliance and joined forces with the AFRC and collectively, were referred to as the “AFRC/RUF Junta”. Leaders of the RUF become members of the Junta Government.
Meanwhile, for Liberia there is a peace agreement signed at Abuja in Ivory Coast which pave the way for elections, in which the Accused in elected President in July 1997.
Back in Sierra Leone, the AFRC/RUF junta is not recognized by the international community and is soon in conflict with ECOMOG forces, and a Civil Defence Force that fights in support of the elected government of Sierra Leone.
July-October 1997: Ibrahim Bah is sent by CT to Freetown to liaise with the AFRC/RUF members of the Junta and find way to provide them with weapons. Ibrahim Bah arranged both the payment for and delivery of the Magburaka arms shipments which arrived in October 1997 and helped the AFRC Junta to keep going for four more months. Another of CT’s liaison is sent to Freetown at that time: Daniel Tamba aka “Jungle”. 14 February 1998: ECOMOG pushed AFRC/RUF alliance out of Freetown; massive retreat of AFRC/RUF troops in the countryside. Around 14 February 1998 - Some members of the AFRC managed to flee Freetown on board a plane destined for Monrovia, but are arrested at the airport in Monrovia by ECOMOG posted in the airport in spite of the Accused’s attempt to rescue them. This angers the Accused who orders ECOMOG in Liberia to leave the country. The same day the Accused calls Bockarie in SL and tells him that he will get arms and ammunitions to fight ECOMOG in SL. He will engage ECOMOG militarily in Sierra Leone through the AFRC/RUF, who continue their alliance after the retreat from Freetown.
As we will here, in the presentation of my learned colleague, Mr. Bangura, this leads to massive atrocities.
Around February-March 1998: the Accused sends people to get Bockarie in Buedu and bring him in Monrovia. Bockarie is given money and a satellite phone by the Accused. The Accused gives Bockarie instructions to hold Kono, hold the mining fields.
- Feb-April 1998: Liberian disarmament: Evidence will show that the Accused orchestrates a scheme whereby the RUF purchase weapons from former ULIMO-K combatants (opposed to the Accused in the Liberian civil war in Lofa county) - thereby effectively disarming opposition group in Liberia, and arming the RUF. The Accused gives money to Bockarie, the defacto leader of RUF (Sankoh is in jail) for the purchase of some of these arms and ammunition,
Throughout 1998: Ongoing communication between Benjamin Yeaten and Sam Bockarie, between the Accused and Bockarie, between the radio communicators in SL and Liberia; numerous trips of the Accused’s representatives to Buedu in Monrovia and numerous deliveries of arms, ammunitions and other supplies; regular updates to the Accused from his representatives in Buedu about the situation in SL and in the AFRC/RUF; several trips of the RUF high command to Monrovia to meet with Yeaten and the Accused. September-October 1998: the Accused sends Liberian troops to SL to reinforce the AFRC/RUF. At this point, it has taken the Accused eight years to conquer power and he is now Head of State. The Accused has spent lots of money (arms) and men in SL. Sankoh is in jail. The Accused does not want young bush commanders (RUF) sabotaging it. The Accused sends explicit instructions (radio communications) and puts “eyes and ears” on the ground in Buedu to know what is happening and act if necessary (Tamba “Jungle”).
November-December 1998: Some of the closest men of the Accused spend a lot of time in Buedu with Bockarie to prepare a major country-wide offensive; around that same period Bockarie and the Accused’s men travel to organise a major arms and ammunition shipments which is delivered to Buedu in December 1998. December-January 1998/1999: major AFRC/RUF offensive which led to recapture of Koidu town, Makeni and many other towns. Then there is the invasion of Freetown in 1999 by the AFRC, which my colleague will show was done in coordination with RUF forces.. January 1999: Bockarie promoted to General by the Accused. 1999: CT sent men to assess the diamonds fields in SL. Throughout 1999: ongoing communication between Benjamin Yeaten and Bockarie, between the Accused and Bockarie, between the radio communicators in SL and Liberia; numerous trips of the Accused’s representatives between Monrovia and Buedu, in the Kailahun district of Sierra Leone, and numerous deliveries of arms, ammunitions and other supplies; regular updates to the Accused from his representatives in Buedu about the situation in SL and in the AFRC/RUF; several trips of the RUF high command to Monrovia to meet with Yeaten and the Accused. Sometime in 1999: LURD – formed mainly by Mandingo former ULIMO fighters – attack Liberian positions from Guinea. Fear that the LURD - as ULIMO did in the 1990s – would cut off the Liberian-SL supply line. War starts again in Liberia, which has consequences in Sierra Leone.
After March 1999 – CT used the RUF to fight against the LURD in Lofa county. In the Accused’s various offensives launched against the rebel movement known as the LURD, he was able to draw on troop reinforcements from the RUF.
There were two significant offensives of the LURD which the AFRC/RUF from Sierra Leone fought in Liberia, in April 1999, the other in mid-2000 onwards. During there first deployment there was massive looting by the AFRC/RUF in Liberia. Meanwhile, there are negotiations for a peace in Sierra Leone. Though the AFRC/RUF alliance no longer controls Freetown, the offensive has left it in control of much of country including the diamond fields. The Accused’s representatives are present in Lomé, in Togo, and he and the RUF are able to strike a very favorable bargain in Accords that were finalized on 9 July 1999.
Despite atrocities having been committed just weeks before, an amnesty is declared, and RUF Sankoh is put in charge of the mining industry.
October 1999: UN Security Council resolution 1270 establishes UNAMSIL to enforce the Lome peace accords. 2000: RUF in control of large part of Sierra Leone and continues to exploit mineral resources. Several trips of the RUF high command to see the Accused in Monrovia. Regular shipments of supplies from the Accused to the RUF in SL. The Accused’s men keep visiting the RUF held territories and updating the Accused on what is going on there. May 2000: Abduction of the UNAMSIL peacekeepers by the RUF troops. Demonstration in Freetown outside Sankoh’s house and 25 civilians killed. Sankoh arrested some days later with many RUF commanders. ECOWAS appointed the Accused to ensure that the RUF complies with the terms of the Lomé agreement and frees UN peacekeepers. Mid-2000: UNAMSIL hostages send by the RUF to the Accused in Monrovia for him to release them and send them to Freetown. Why is this relevant to these criminal charges? Because, again, it demonstrates the power of the accused to control the RUF. He could when he wanted to prevent crimes committed by these forces, and he had not acted prevent the crime of abduction occurring in the first place.
August 2000: Resolution 1315 of the UN SC on the establishment of the Special Court. -Mid to Late 2000 : the Accused orders the RUF to start operations in Guinea as the Accused thinks that the Guinean government is backing the LURD (second offensive).RUF fighters were sent to Liberia by Sesay on the orders of the Accused. The focus of the attack was an attack on the Guinean town of Guékuédou and holding the Liberian town of Foya. He ordered them to kill everyone and burn down all the houses. Materiel in support in of the operation are supplied from Liberia through Kailahun in SL. December 2000: UN report on SL details extensive support for RUF by the Accused’s government and recommends a complete embargo on all diamonds in Liberia. 2001: Dennis Mingo aka “Superman” is killed in Liberia. May 2001: UN Security Council imposes arms embargo to punish the Accused for trading weapons for diamonds with the RUF. Sanctions include travel ban. January 2002: War declared over in SL, but AFRC/RUF troops still fighting in Liberia. January-February 2002: LURD defeated RUF and the Accused’s troops at Lofa County and by mid-February are 44 kilometres from Monrovia. The Accused declared a state of emergency in Liberia War over in Sierra Leone - demobilization programme – that weakened the Accused and within 18 months LURD had pushed the Accused out of power, but not before the Accused has killed Jungle and Bockarie.
D. CAMPAIGN OF TERROR
The Prosecution will lead evidence that the Accused through the senior leaders of the organised group known as the Revolutionary United Front (or “RUF”) instructed commanders to follow a certain modus operandi (same as the NPFL at all times during Liberian civil war - 1989-1996 and 1999-2003).
Attacks against the civilian population typically began with an armed attack against a civilian village, town or city, carried out by members of the RUF, Junta, AFRC/RUF and/or Liberians subordinate to the Accused. The attackers used a variety of arms and other materiel to take control of all or part of the village, town or city. The attack against this civilian locale involved the murder killing of many civilians. Typically the attackers would enslave large numbers of the civilians, to use as fighters, miners, farmers, domestic workers, nnot allowing them to leave the control of the attackers. Those who objected to their captivity or attempted to flee were routinely killed or beaten. Also typically the attackers would rape women and girls, often repeatedly, and then use them as “bush wives”. The attackers would mutilate the captive civilians. Children are conscripted by attackers, often after killing their parents, with the children provided with drugs and weapons, and conditioned to view their commanders as the new leaders of their family. In addition, the attackers would typically loot and burn the homes of the civilians. This was the brutal and bloody strategy which, under the command and control of the Accused, was followed by those on the ground in Sierra Leone. In essence, it wasn’t the military capability of their opponents that the RUF targeted for destruction. If the Accused and the groups subordinate to or associated with him had limited themselves to active hostilities against the government forces of SL and the organized armed groups aligned with those forces, would not be here today.
But this was a campaign of terror. It reached its peak in 1998 and the senseless carnage which was being wrought in Sierra Leone was succinctly summed up by UNHCR in its Report as follows:
[DOC. - EXHIBIT 1.020: UNHCR Report on Atrocities Committed Against Sierra Leone Population, UNHCR Conakry Branch Office, 28 January 1999 (Rev. 2), Report on and pictures of 38 victims of violence during the year 1998.] "It soon became clear that the scale and nature of the crimes perpetrated served only two purposes: intimidation and humiliation." "...perpetrators of these crimes do not discriminate with regard to age, sex, ethnic origin or other criteria in the choice of their victims."
My colleague, Mr. Bangura will now rise to outline the evidence about this campaign of terror, specifically as to the crimes perpetrated against the people of Sierra Leone, as alleged in the Amended Indictment.
MR. BANGURA – DISCUSSION OF THE CRIME BASEI. INTRODUCTION
Your honours, this afternoon I will present to the Court the crimes charged in the Second Amended Indictment as they unfolded in Sierra Leone between November 1996 and January 2002.
We have told you that you will hear evidence from which you can infer there was a plan… that the Accused was involved in the creation of this plan …that he participated in this plan with others.
What I will present now to the Court are the details of the devastating effect that this plan had on the civilians of Sierra Leone. Evidence will be led showing that the Accused knew of these devastating effects but continued with the plan.
I will touch on what actually happened in Sierra Leone as stated in the indictment, and the crimes that were perpetrated there. Crimes that were perpetrated with the aim of causing terror.
Your Honours, the Prosecutor has already enumerated the crimes which we charge in the Indictment.
This Court will hear evidence that the people of Sierra Leone suffered.
From Kenema to Kono, whole villages were destroyed. The capital was under siege. No one was safe, young or old. Families were forced to turn on each other and then were torn apart. The main victims of the war in Sierra Leone were poor, defenceless civilians, ordinary country folks, who had nothing to do with politics, governance or corruption, and who had nowhere to hide. They longed for peace but were instead subjected to years of atrocities, atrocities which are reflected in the indictment and for which we stand here and allege that the accused, Charles Ghankay Taylor, bears responsibility.
Your honours, you will hear the perpetrators of these crimes being referred to by various names: “RUF”, “Rebels”, “RUF rebels”, “Peoples Army”, “AFRC”, “AFRC/RUF”, “Junta”, “Junta Rebels.”
No matter what name they were called, the story is the same – all these groups committed mindless acts of violence, terror and degradation, devoid of any human reason. You will hear that the man who gave orders to the leaders of these groups…..who provided safe haven to these groups…… who provided much-needed weapons and supplies to these groups…who encouraged and aligned himself to these groups… sits accused in this courtroom today.
Your Honours have heard the names of some of the associates and subordinates of the Accused who provided many of the links to the crimes perpetrated in Sierra Leone, and through whom the Accused acted alongside to further the common plan - Sam Bockarie - MOSQUITO, Ibrahim Bah, Benjamin Yeaten, Colonel Jungle and Issa Sesay…Your Honours, I ask you to remember these names, which will echo in these chambers throughout this trial. The accused may not have set foot in Sierra Leone during the alleged time period, but he stamped his mark indelibly on the whole country.
The crimes included in the Indictment took place between the 30th of November, 1996 and the 18th of January, 2002. This was but part of a conflict that lasted over 10 years. However, it was in this period that the seeds sown by the Accused and the other participants in the common plan bore their most bitter fruits.
Your honours, let me describe the significance of Kailahun and Kono Districts.
II. KAILAHUN
Kailahun District, bordering Liberia, was throughout the conflict the corridor between Liberia and Sierra Leone. This District has a long history with the RUF and the NPFL, and was one of the first targets of the RUF and NPFL forces in 1991. Your honours will hear that later, the town of Buedu became the RUF stronghold and the location of its headquarters.
During the conflict, for fighters on either side of the border, Kailahun District and Lofa County, Buedu and Foya, were one territory, one group of people, all fighting the same fight, aiming towards the same goal. Geographical boundaries had no meaning.
What had meaning in this conflict were diamonds. Between 1998 and 2000, diamonds mined by forced labour were first taken to the headquarters in Buedu and from there to the Accused in Liberia. In return, arms, ammunition and supplies were regularly transported through Lofa County to Buedu. The Prosecution will present evidence that Buedu was a place stocked with arms and ammunition supplied by the Accused. These arms were then distributed to the AFRC/RUF forces throughout the country.
Buedu was for a large part of the conflict the epi-centre of operations. In 1998 and 1999, Bockarie directed, planned, and ordered operations from Buedu, including the 1998 attacks on Kono and Makeni. These attacks killed and maimed hundreds of innocent civilians.
III. KONO DISTRICT
Right next door to Kailahun District is Kono District, a major diamond mining area. Diamonds were at the heart of the common plan because they helped fuel the war.
In exchange for diamonds, the Accused provided the RUF, and later the Junta, with much needed arms and ammunition, enhancing their ability to continue the war. It is clear that the district’s strategic importance lay in its economic value.
In February 1998, on loosing control of Freetown, the need to control the country’s other strategic areas became even more critical.
The Accused’s order to the Junta in around March 1998 was clear: “Hold Kono”.
This order was conveyed by Bockarie to his men.
But in April 1998, the AFRC/RUF lost control of Koidu Town in the heart of Kono. This loss triggered the launch of two brutal attacks to try to re-take the town in order to obey the Accused’s command.
With assistance provided by the Accused including a supply of arms, the RUF and AFRC rebels launched their attacks on ECOMOG and the Civil Defence Forces, known as the CDF, in Koidu Town and its surrounding areas. In the coming months you will see and hear evidence of the crimes committed during these attacks.
This series of attacks was called Fiti-Fata in Krio, the local parlance of Sierra Leone.
Your Honours, I would like to use the words of a witness to describe what Fiti-Fata meant in the context of the attacks. It meant:
twenty four hours .. without any control. If an RUF fighter wished to kill someone, he could kill anyone he wished.
In other words, your Honours, there were no rules and no one was safe.
The civilians of Kono paid a heavy price for living in such a mineral rich area. During the Indictment period, many areas of Kono were razed to the ground.
You will hear evidence of the order given by Morris Kallon of the RUF to burn Koidu Town.
You will also hear evidence of the order of another rebel commander, given casually to his men, to “light candles”, which meant to burn homes.
However, the evidence will show that the destruction that resulted was anything but casual. The destruction was part of the overall campaign of terror charged under Count 1 of the Indictment.
Killings
Your honours, this campaign of terror also included the unlawful killings which occurred in Kono and Kailahun and are charged under Counts 2 and 3. Let me describe two incidents.
The Prosecution will call a witness who will describe the joint AFRC and RUF attack on Koidu Town around May 1998.
This witness will describe how he was taken captive and forced to walk to Koidu Town. On this walk, the witness stepped over corpses, stepping in blood - pools of blood.
The witness estimated that he stepped over about 50 corpses.
However, this is not where his trauma would end. Instead, on arrival the men, women and children were divided into groups, made to stand in line, and then RUF rebels opened fire on them. 101 people were killed.
In Kailahun, the killings were equally as shocking. One particularly horrific killing during this period was the execution of approximately 65 men in Kailahun Town who were suspected CDF fighters. These men were captured and detained for several days before Bockarie ordered their execution. Bockarie himself participated in the killing, shooting some of the men in the head at close range.
Physical Violence
Physical violence is also charged for Kailahun and Kono under Counts 7 and 8 of the Indictment.
The prosecution alleges that the AFRC/RUF engaged in widespread acts of physical violence in Kono, Kailahun and other parts of the country and that in Kono, villages such as Tombodu, Kaima and Wondedu suffered brutal attacks that took many forms including but not limited to the application of force with weapons, the mutilation of civilians, and the amputation of limbs.
The Prosecution will lead evidence of what can only be called a barbaric practice of the RUF and AFRC, namely to carve the letters R-U-F or A-F-R-C or AFRC/RUF into the flesh of captured civilians. The evidence will include testimony as well of demonstrative and photographic evidence which show the scars that still exist on the bodies of some.
The evidence will suggest that this practice had a strategic element, in that the AFRC/RUF fighters were of the view that carving their letters into their captives would result in them being identified by other free civilians as RUF or AFRC fighters. Consequently, the scarred captives would be unwelcome in civilian villages and back in their homes. This practice was part of an overall strategy to terrorize civilians thus holding a large population of people not only in Kono but throughout the country in a state of physical and psychological captivity.
The prosecution will introduce evidence of what we respectfully suggest is the most well-known atrocity inflicted on persons in Sierra Leone at the relevant times of the indictment, namely amputations. We will call witnesses who either saw or were themselves victims of amputations and they will describe not only the physical acts of cutting off limbs but also the words of the rebels who allegedly committed these acts.
You will hear evidence that victims were told that they should go to President Kabbah to ask for new hands. In the words of one rebel commander after ordering the amputation of many civilians:
“You see, you don’t want Foday Sankoh, you want Tejan Kabbah. Well, go to him to get new hands.’
Rapes and sexual slavery,
Sexual crimes were also committed in Kailahun and Kono and are charged under Counts 4, 5, and 6.
Your Honours, our evidence will show that the practice of using women as sex slaves became widespread and commonplace among the RUF, and later the AFRC/RUF fighters throughout the war.
You will hear that Sierra Leonean women captured by the RUF or AFRC were forced to make strategic choices that no woman should ever have to make.
These women would seek to become attached to a single commander or fighter as a “bushwife” because this was the best way to limit the abuse they would suffer. The alternative was, and I quote a witness, that a woman would be treated “like a football in the field”, being exposed to one rape after another, perpetrated by many men without any consideration for health, feelings or lives.
Your honours will hear evidence that the girls and women of Sierra Leone were subjected to extreme sexual violence. That they were abducted and raped, oftentimes publicly, oftentimes by numerous fighters, oftentimes for extended periods of time, and then generally forced into sexual slavery.
You will hear that girls and women were forced to continue performing sexual acts as well as domestic duties for their fighter “husbands”. Those who dared to escape and were caught were either killed or were marked with “RUF” on their bodies.
Forced Labour
During the Indictment period, as set out in Count 10 of the Indictment, civilians in Kono and Kailahun, were harnessed and forced to work intensively towards the war effort.
Aside from domestic duties forced upon female captives, men and women of all ages throughout Sierra Leone were forced to perform other types of work for the rebels without pay.
Abductees were forced to work on RUF farms in Kailahun District. They were also forced at gunpoint to carry arms, ammunition, food, fuel and other supplies from Buedu to Koidu Town – a distance of over 70 miles following narrow bush paths.
In Kono, diamond miners were often forced to work without food. Those who were too tired to work were stripped and beaten and, in some instances, killed.
Diamonds mined under these conditions were given to senior AFRC/RUF commanders and were then sent to the Accused in exchange for arms, ammunition and supplies. Evidence will show that the Accused sent his subordinates from Liberia to provide advice to Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay on the Kono mining operations, thus protecting his own economic interests.
You will hear evidence that in an effort to strengthen the rebel forces and to sow the seeds of the common plan, AFRC/RUF commanders ordered the training of captured civilians and then forcibly conscripted them into the ranks of the fighting force.
In Kailahun and Kono, abducted civilians were trained at Bayama, Pendembu, Bunumbu, Koinadugu and Yengema.
The training often involved severe beatings for those who were uncooperative, and sometimes resulted in deaths of the trainees. Your honours will hear evidence that from Liberia, the Accused provided arms and ammunition, rice and food for these training camps, where abducted civilians and children were forcibly trained.
VI. KENEMA DISTRICT
Your honours, let me move to another diamond rich area, Kenema District.
This District is home to the famous Tongo Fields. As we already saw in Kono, such wealth attracted much violence. In 1997 and 1998, these fields produced a bitter harvest, which resulted in Counts 1, 2, 3 and 10 being charged for this district.
In the context of the Indictment, the crimes charged for Kenema are those which took place largely during the Junta period. The significance of diamonds to the survival of the Junta regime cannot be overemphasised, and this was evidenced by the very presence of Sam Bockarie himself in Kenema throughout this period.
That being said, the need for diamonds was so great that they were to be mined, no matter what the human price.
The governing body of the AFRC regime – the Supreme Council – which was located in Freetown, received frequent updates from the mining commanders on the number of diamonds extracted and other essential information regarding productivity.
The junta government was not recognized by the international community and had to rely on its own resources. Therefore, simply as a matter of survival and to pay for the rice for its soldiers, and the weapons needed to fight the ECOMOG troops, the diamond fields in Kenema needed to be intensively mined by civilians.
This internationally isolated regime did have one friend, though: The Accused.
Your Honours have heard the name Ibrahim Bah. Ibrahim Bah organized an air shipment of arms and ammunition to Magburaka for the Junta. This shipment, known as the Magburaka Arms Shipment, was paid for partially by illegally mined diamonds. We allege that this shipment was organized by Bah on the Accused’s behalf and kept the otherwise unstable and unrecognized Junta going for about another 4 months.
Your honours, the conditions of miners working in the diamond fields was harsh and brutal. Mining was undertaken in areas such as the notorious “Cyborg Pit”. Child soldiers renowned for their brutality guarded the miners at gunpoint.
This period of intense forced mining was punctuated by frequent killings. Many civilians were killed at Cyborg Pit, some because they were suspected of stealing diamonds, others because their deaths helped instil a climate of terror that would deter escapes. Terror was guaranteed to be generated when, on the orders of Bockarie, miners in Cyborg Pit were fired on indiscriminately.
Indeed, this was a district controlled by fear. You will hear evidence about one infamous event in the township of Kenema where several community leaders accused of supporting the CDF were detained and tortured. Subsequently, several of the detainees, including B S Massaquoi, a former Cabinet Minister and municipal leader of Kenema, were killed on the orders of Bockarie.
IV. PORT LOKO DISTRICT
Your honours, I move to Port Loko. Count 11, pillage, is charged for this district between 1 February 1998 to about 30 April 1998.
In February 1998, the Junta, which had ruled for just short of a year, was finally routed by ECOMOG forces. This event, known as the Intervention, resulted in the withdrawal of the RUF and AFRC forces from Freetown. As the forces withdrew, their passage was marked by violence and looting. This passage from West to East is reflected in the districts and towns charged in the Indictment under Count 11 for the crime of looting.
Masiaka is a town in Port Loko District. It was here, in this district and in particular Masiaka, that the defeated members of the former Junta and their men received the infamous order for the forces to “pay themselves”.
V. BOMBALI
This journey of retreat and looting took the forces to Bombali, and accordingly, this district is included under Counts 1 and 11 of the Indictment.
Makeni is a strategic town in Bombali District which controls the route between Freetown and Kono and facilitates access to the northern and eastern areas.
Once Operation Pay Yourself had been announced in Masiaka in February 1998, the forces simply kept heading east back to their strongholds, taking whatever they came across in the villages and towns they passed through.
VII. FREETOWN & WESTERN AREA
Freetown and the Western Area encompasses the city of Freetown and the entire Peninsula. Freetown is the capital of Sierra Leone and the seat of political power. After the May 97 coup, Freetown was the Junta’s headquarters. In February 1998, Johnny Paul Koroma and many other senior Junta leaders fled from Freetown, in their wake their forces abducted civilians and took them to Kono and other areas in Sierra Leone. Freetown again came into focus at the end of ’98. The final objective of the operation commencing with the attack on Kono District was to re-take control of Freetown in order to re-establish political control over the country.
The movement towards Freetown, the invasion of Freetown and then the retreat from Freetown covering the period from the end of 1998 until early 1999 is the focus of the crimes charged in the Indictment.
On re-establishing control over Koidu town, AFRC/RUF forces from Kono, under the command of Issa Sesay, and from Koinadugu, under the command of “Superman”, launched co-ordinated attacks on Makeni which led to the takeover of the town.
In the meantime, the forces of Alex Tamba Brima and SAJ Musa were on their way to the next target - Freetown.
The advance to Freetown began in Rosos and took the route through Waterloo in the Western Area to Benguema, from Hastings to Jui, from Allen Town to Calaba Town, from Wellington to Kissy, and from Up Gun into the city centre. A large number of Liberian NPFL fighters were sent to Buedu from Liberia in 1998 to reinforce the AFRC and RUF forces on their planned attacks. A good number of these Liberian fighters went from Buedu with Superman to Koinadugu in mid 1998 to join SAJ Musa in the Northern Jungle. They later reinforced the forces of Alex Tamba Brima at Colonel Eddie Town, and entered Freetown with the predominantly AFRC forces Throughout the attack, AFRC/RUF commanders in the Freetown area were communicating with AFRC/RUF commanders on other fronts.
For the people of Freetown, the January 6 invasion, did not come as a complete surprise. What astounded the population was the viciousness of the attack.
With the State House under their control and the central prison gates flung wide open, the invaders had free reign over the eastern and central parts of the city for almost 2 weeks.
AFRC/RUF forces were eventually forced to retreat eastwards by ECOMOG and other SLA forces. However, they took with them a huge band of abductees. In this band were able-bodied men and a large number of young girls and children. Left behind, in the now empty streets, thousands lay dead, as vultures fed on decomposing bodies.
You will hear evidence that the city’s hospitals and clinics were full beyond capacity with the wounded and the dying. Whole streets lay abandoned. Houses burnt. Wrecked and abandoned vehicles littering the streets. As if this was not enough, waves of freshly amputated civilians began streaming into the city from the eastern outskirts, sending a grim reminder that the invaders were still close. Hospital corridors soon became lined with amputees.
The Accused’s responsibility for the events of January 6 and its aftermath will be established through Prosecution witnesses who will testify to the following facts.
First, throughout the Invasion period, Bockarie became the only spokesperson for the forces. Such was Bockarie’s importance that he negotiated the ceasefire on behalf of the fighters on the ground. Bockarie was known for his vanity, he had no hesitations about making public his role and gave a number of interviews on the BBC. In one he threatened to “burn Freetown” and in another he referred to the Accused as his “chief”.
Second, there was ongoing radio communication throughout the Freetown invasion between Bockarie and Alex Tamba Brima. These communications increased as the fighters took over State House, gained control over the city until they eventually retreated from State House. Orders from Bockarie to Alex Tamba Brima included holding the city while RUF reinforcements were being provided. Later, they dealt with issues of ceasefire, the burning of embassies, the retreat as well as other orders. Brima complied with these orders
Third, RUF fighters and some Liberian Fighters sent by the Accused weeks before the invasion, reinforced the fighters of Alex Tamba Brima, and enhanced the military strength of the forces which entered Freetown on that fateful day of 6 January 1999.
In addition, Bockarie ordered that the RUF fighters in Waterloo ensure the safe passage of the retreating RUF/AFRC forces from the city by holding the Guinean ECOMOG contingent at bay.
The scale of the atrocities also indicates that the invasion should be set in context. This was the culmination of years of assistance from the Accused towards the common plan to take over of the political control of Sierra Leone. In order to achieve this objective, from May 1997 to January 1999, the RUF/AFRC alliance and the Liberian Fighters supplied by the accused, engaged the ECOMOG forces throughout the country in constant combat, and attacked their military bases. This had the effect of considerably reducing the ECOMOG capability to defend Freetown, which made the January 1999 Invasion of Freetown an inevitable success for the AFRC/RUF allied forces.
The scale of the terror that was unleashed on Freetown is unparalleled as a single event in the conflict. No other incident, event or attack by the RUF or AFRC/RUF throughout the war, involved such large scale burning of civilian property in locations throughout Freetown; such killing of civilians; such widespread beatings and amputations; such abduction of civilians; such widespread looting; and such abuse of young girls and women.
At the end of this period of extreme violence which shocked the entire world, the Accused called Bockarie to Monrovia and promoted him.
A few months after the Invasion, in mid 1999 in Monrovia, the Accused hosted Johnny Paul Koroma and some senior leaders of the AFRC. At this meeting, the Accused praised the rebel advance into Freetown and gave the delegation 15,000 dollars as a show of support.
VIII. CHILD SOLDIERS
Yet another haunting image of the conflict in Sierra Leone is that of children carrying guns taller than they were. Children were conscripted, enlisted and/or used in active hostilities throughout the war and Sierra Leone.
Count 9 of the Indictment states that between about 30 November 1996 and about 18 January 2002 members of RUF, AFRC, AFRC/RUF Junta or alliance, and/or other armed factions fighting in Sierra Leone routinely used hundreds of boys and girls under the age of 15 to participate in hostilities.
The evidence will demonstrate that a pattern was followed throughout the war. Children were abducted by the rebel fighting forces during attacks on their villages, and taken to “training camps”.
The training in these camps was harsh beyond measure. When learning to crawl to avoid fire, real bullets were often fired above the heads of the child recruits. Those who failed to follow instructions on how to crawl and who raised their heads, were killed by these bullets.
After training, some of these children were given military ranks. The children were then used by the rebels to fight at the front lines, to carry arms and ammunition to the front lines, to act as bodyguards and to provide security to commanders and fighters and to conduct reconnaissance.
This was a pattern which had been followed by the forces under the command of the Accused in Liberia in the late 1980’s and which was continued until about 2003.
The boys and girls that were trained in Sierra Leone were grouped into units called the Small Boys Unit (SBU) and the Small Girls Unit (SGU). These same names were used by the NPFL in Liberia from the early 1990’s.
IX. CONCLUSION
I would like to thank the Bench for the opportunity to address you on this historic day. It has truly been an honour for me to do so.
The people of Sierra Leone have a saying:
“Net long so taaaaaaay, doh mus clean”
Meaning
“no matter how long the night, light will come”
For years the Accused’s crimes have remained in the dark. Today, we start to shed light on his responsibility for the suffering of the people of Sierra Leone.
MR. RAPP RECOMMENCES
E. MODES/PARTICIPATION IN COMMMON PLAN
Your honours, in our pre-trial brief, we have outlined the ways in which the accused is responsible for planning, ordering and instigating the crimes. In the interests of time I would like to proceed to discuss was in which the Accused clearly aided and abetted these crimes.
Aiding and Abetting
Throughout the relevant period, the Accused provided vital and substantial assistance, encouragement or support to the RUF, then to the Junta and finally to the AFRC/RUF, which enabled these forces to conduct this widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Sierra Leone.
[DOC – EXHIBIT 1.058: (undated – 10 pages) letter to Foday Sankoh from the Black Guard Commander – summary report to FS of the situation on the ground while he has been absent. Mentions support given by CT.] “The High Command Meanwhile, Mr Taylor said his trial would not be fair because he only had one defence lawyer. His counsel walked out, defying the judge's order to stay seated.
Mr Taylor is accused of backing rebels in Sierra Leone in an 11-year campaign that killed thousand of civilians
Charles Taylor Trial, Prosecution Opening Statement
PROSECUTION VS. CHARLES GANKAY TAYLOR
PROSECUTION OPENING STATEMENT
Stephen Rapp, The Prosecutor
Mohamed Bangura, Trial Attorney
PART 1: GLOBAL OVER VIEW
MR. RAPP
A. INTRODUCTION
Your Honours, I rise to begin the Opening Statement of the Prosecution of its cases against the Accused. I will be joined in this presentation by my learned colleague, Trial Attorney Mohamed Bangura. In my part, I will provide a general outline of our case, stating what we believe the evidence with show about the pattern of conduct for which we allege the Accused is responsible, and to explain how that alleged conduct was criminal under our Statute as charged in the Second Amended Indictment.
In rising I first want to state my appreciation to our hosts the International Criminal Court, and the Government and people of the Netherlands. I ask want to recognize all of those who have worked at the Special Court, both at the present and in the past, to bring us to this historic day. In that regard, I would like to take special note of the presence today in the gallery, of the first Registrar, Robin Vincent, and my predecessors as Prosecutors, David Crane, and Sir Desmond de Silva.
During the trial, we will seek at all times to ensure that it embodies the fundamental principles of fairness, due process and justice that, along with the other trials at the Special Court and help ensure a future respect for law and the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society. We acknowledge at the outset of this important judicial exercise the responsibility of the Prosecution to bear the burden of proving the charges against the Accused in our Indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.
What my learned colleague, Mr. Bangura, and myself will say in this Opening is not evidence. Rather, it is an introduction of the evidence which we will lead against the Accused and, therefore, which will eventually be weighed by your Honours in your final deliberations. If there is a conflict between what is said here today and what is admitted into evidence, it is of course that evidence you will exclusively consider.
As Your Honours are well aware, this Special Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed after 30 November 1996, and because many of these were war crimes, we have generally limited our focus to the period before 18 January 2002, when Sierra Leone President Kabbah declared the war to be at an end. However, there are events outside this timeframe that must be described in order to understand the suffering visited on the people of Sierra Leone during this period.
It is because we are seeking justice for the people of Sierra Leone that we are here today.
How are we to grasp what happened in Sierra Leone? The world knows part of the story. A small West African nation on the Atlantic Ocean. From it in the late 1990s came images in the media of some of the ugliest scenes of viciousness in recent memory. Human beings, young and old multilated, rebels chopping off arms and legs, and gauging out eyes; girls and women enslaved and sexually violated. Children carrying out some of the worst crimes. The exploitation of the resources of Sierra Leone to kill and maim and its citizens. The very worst that human beings are capable of doing to one another
For those not there it almost impossible to comprehend the horrors suffered by the people of the country.
How did this happen?
Sierra Leone has not been without its problems, and by the early 1990s its citizens had grievances against the government in place. But it also had many successes, and was a land of near constant peace… Its capital, Freetown, where the seat of this Court is based, was named for the freed slaves who settled it. It was the site of the first English speaking university in Africa, established almost two centuries ago. The city would come to be described by domestic and foreign observers alike as “the Athens of Africa.” There was not a history of ethnic hatred or religious conflict. There were not the ancient rivalries that one often sees where great atrocities have been committed.One of our early witnesses, who saw hundreds of victims will offer evidence of his observations, as contained in his statements disclosed to the defence that there had been no animosity between any of group of Sierra Leoneans, be it tribes, be it religious groups, there had been nothing. There was not a war between these groups, but terror rained down on the people of Sierra Leone.
How does one thus understand this rain of terror?
The defence has provided a pre-trial brief asserting the non-involvement of the Accused, best summed up by learned counsel in the public quotation of line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar “The fault lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.” From his explanation it is clear that the Accused is a star without fault. The ourselves who bear the blame and the true responsibility for the horrors visited upon the people of Sierra Leone? Apparently, Sierra Leone itself. The savagery experienced was part of a national predisposition that was there all along, dormant for so many years, then set off without any external catalyst. In short, Sierra Leone has only itself to blame.
That is not view of the Prosecution, and it is not what the evidence will show.
The witnesses that we will call and the documents that we will present will prove that the Accused is responsible for the development and execution of a plan that caused the death and destruction in Sierra Leone. The plan, formulated by the Accused and others, was to take over political and physical control of Sierra Leone in order to exploit its abundant natural resources and to establish a friendly or subordinate government there to facilitate this exploitation.
Your Honours will hear in this address that within this overall plan, there were sub-plans, strategies, operations ….
The parties engaged in a multitude of activities designed to fulfil the overall plan.
The Accused’s involvement in the crimes alleged in the Indictment took a variety of forms - planning, instigating, ordering, committing, aiding and abetting in the commission of the alleged crimes, and otherwise participating in the execution of a common plan, design or purpose. Additionally, we allege that he is responsible because persons under his effective control committed the crimes, for which he had knowledge or reason to know, and he failed to prevent or punish their conduct.
The Accused stands indicted for eleven crimes under the statute of the SCSL.
Counts in Second Amended Indictment number eleven:
five counts of crimes against humanity - those being murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, and inhumane acts against the civilian population of SL. five counts of war crimes - those being terrorising the civilian population of SL, violence to live - in particular murder and cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and pillage (looting of civilian property), and
one count of other serious violations of international humanitarian law - being the conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups, or using them to participate actively in hostilities. The Prosecution alleges that these crimes occurred in Sierra Leone between 30 November 1996 and 18 January 2002.
It is in fact one over-arching crime, a campaign of terror, itself a war crime, but also committed through violent acts that are in this context also crimes. These component crimes acts included killing, physical violence such as mutilations, sexual assaults such as rape, sexual slavery and other outrages, enslavement of forced labour, the recruitment and combat use of children, the burning that killed and maimed human beings, and together with looting and pillage that, in many cases, deprived them of all that they had built.
As we will explain in greater detail, they are crimes against international humanitarian law, as enshrined in our Statute, because of connection to armed conflict and because they were committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.
This common plan amounted to or involved the commission of the crimes alleged in the Amended Indictment.
From its inception, the Accused and other participants in the common plan used criminal means to achieve and hold political power and physical control over the civilian population of Sierra Leone. These criminal means involved the campaign of terror waged against the civilian population of Sierra Leone that I have described.
The crimes identified in the indictment were within the objective of the common criminal plan or were natural and foreseeable consequences of it. As one of the members of the common criminal plan, the Accused was fully aware of the horrific consequences that its implementation would visit on the civilian population of Sierra Leone, did nothing to prevent or punish these crimes and indeed continued to act in ways that caused or aided their commission.
B. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO SIERRA LEONE AND THE REGION
It is important to note that Sierra Leone is located in a region where borders exist only on paper. These lines were drawn during the colonial period, and do not follow ethnic or linguistic groups. Many in up-country border areas have closer relations to people across the borders than to those in their capital cities.
Sierra Leone is divided into 12 districts, plus the Western Area that includes the capital Freetown.
Liberia is divided into 15 counties, and its capital Monrovia.
Our Amended Indictment focuses on six district or areas in Sierra Leone,
Its diamond resources are found in Kono and Kenema Districts.
Kono District – Koidu, Tombudu, Yengema
Kenema District – Tongo Fields (Cyborg Pit)
Kailahun District will be an important focus of our evidence because it was long-term corridor between Sierra Leone and and Lofa County in Liberia.
Now I will turn to the evidence we intend to present in support of our case.
C. HISTORY - COMMON PLAN AND NATURE OF THE ACCUSED PARTICIPATION
To fully understand the crimes that are described in the indictment and the central role that the Accused had in the commission of them, it's important to look at the history and understand the major political events that led to the campaign of terror against the civilian population of Sierra Leone.
The jurisdiction of this court is limited by the Statute of the Court to crimes committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996. The crimes charged in this indictment were indeed committed between that date and the end of the Sierra Leone war on 18 January 2002. However, the planning and preparation of these crimes began long before 1996 and critical acts which furthered the plan and led to the crimes often occurred far from the borders of Sierra Leone. The evidence will show that the Accused’s plan to control territory of Sierra Leone through a campaign of terror began at least in 1991 when forces supported by Charles Taylor including many of his own Liberian NPFL soldiers first invaded the territory of Sierra Leone.
To understand the Accused’s motivation and his links to other members of the common plan and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and their Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) allies, one must examine evidence going back to this period and further understand the international context in which the Accused’s intervention in Sierra Leone took place. It is necessary to understand the Accused’s own rise to power in Liberia and the ends to which he was prepared to go to achieve same, his links to allies in the region, and why he saw others as obstacles to his rule. One cannot fully understand the Accused’s ability to influence and control forces in Sierra Leone without some understanding of the uniquely personal nature of the accused leadership of his armed forces, political party and government. That relationship often went far outside the de jure chain of command and ensured that these subordinates understood that the Accused had the power and will to reward those that assisted his plans and punish or destroy those that displeased him. By the time the crimes charged in this indictment took place, the Accused had well established relationships with those on the ground in Sierra Leone who carried out the crimes. The RUF and its allies in Sierra Leone were clearly dependant on the accused and the individual commanders understood his power to reward or punish each of them.
Moreover, many of the crimes committed by the rebel forces supported by the Accused in Sierra Leone mirrored crimes that had been committed by the Accused’s forces in Liberia. The RUF trained and learnt war and methods of guerilla warfare in Liberia with Taylor’s NPFL. An example is the recruitment of child soldiers. The rebel forces in Sierra Leone carried out wide-scale recruitment of children, as was done by the NPFL in Liberia and organized and utilized these children in their military campaign against the civilian population of Sierra Leone in the same manner they were organized and utilized in Liberia. The most obvious proof that the crimes committed by the RUF and allied forces in Sierra Leone were foreseeable is the fact that very similar crimes were carried out by the NPFL in Liberia..
Further, the Prosecution submits it will be essential for this court to examine evidence of the Accused’s actions after the indictment period. The Prosecution will seek to introduce evidence of post-offence conduct, in particular, the murders of men who were in the Accused’s inner circle and who were aware of the crimes perpetrated by the Accused. The evidence will show that these men were eliminated so as to not to expose the Accused, which is behaviour going to the accused’s consciousness of his criminal responsibility for the crimes in Sierra Leone that come under the jurisdiction of this Court.
Of course, the Accused did not participate in this common plan alone. He was a major figure who worked closely and in concert with others in both Liberia and Sierra Leone to achieve the objectives of the enterprise.
In Liberia, the Accused’s key subordinates who were directly involved in the conflict in Sierra Leone for the relevant period were:
BENJAMIN YEATEN AKA “50” OR “GENERAL 50”
Benjamin Yeaten aka “50”- was the right hand man of the Accused. The only man Yeaten took orders from was the Accused - no one else. This man, the Director of the Liberian Special Security Service, was also the principal liaison officer between and Accused and his forces in Sierra Leone and the Accused, at the very centre of every single aspect of Liberia’s involvement in the Sierra Leonean conflict.
(Another Liberian): IBRAHIM BAH AKA GENERAL IBRAHIM AKA “BALDE”Ibrahim Bah – this man, a Senegalese, from Cassamance, was part of the Accused’s trusted inner circle. While he had no formal title, he played a central role in directly setting up most of the arms and diamonds transactions for the Accused involving Sierra Leone.
DANIEL TAMBA AKA “JUNGLE”
Daniel Tamba aka “Jungle”- the bodyguard of Yeaten and main liaison officer between those on the ground in Sierra Leone and Yeaten from 1997 onwards. Jungle was instrumental in the delivery of arms and ammunition to Sierra Leone and also the main provider of reports direct from Sierra Leone to the Accused and Yeaten. Jungle’s relationship with the RUF was based on links forged on the ground in Sierra Leone with many of the RUF prior to 1997. The evidence will show that he is one of the individuals murdered in 2003 to prevent his turning against and exposing the Accused
MUSA SESAY AKA MUSA CISSE
Musa Sesay – the Accused’s Chief of Protocol – instrumental in setting up arms deals for Liberia and Sierra Leone. Was involved in important meetings with RUF commanders.
Other Liberians who were under the direct command and control of the Accused and whose names will feature prominently in supplying arms to Sierra Leone or in using the RUF forces in Liberia’s own civil war, were:
SAMPSON WEAH
A member of the Liberian SSS bodyguard of Yeaten.
CHRISTOPHER VARMOH AKA “LIBERIAN MOSQUITO”,
JOE TUAH,
DUOPO MERKAZON, and
ROLAND DUOH
– all commanders in first circle of the military forces of the Accused.
CHUCKIE TAYLOR
Charles Taylor (son of the Accused) - first commander of the ATu in 1998.
From the Sierra Leone side, the senior leaders who operated under the Accused’s effective control and who were, in effect, his Sierra Leonean subordinates:
FODAY SANKOH
Foday Sankoh –founder and leader of the Revolutionary United Front (“RUF”). Agreed on and launched the common plan with the Accused. A former comrade in arms of the Accused, whose shared experiences together stretched back many years to the training camps of North Africa.
SAM BOCKARIE AKA “MOSQUITO”
Sam Bockarie – Commander in Chief of the RUF on the ground in 1998 and for most 1999. “Mosquito”, or as the Sierra Leoneans would say, “Maskita”, played the lead role in the link between the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance. An indictee of the Special Court, the evidence will show that he was then murdered in 2003, another of the individuals eliminated to prevent his turning against and exposing the Accused
ISSA SESAY
Issa Sesay –SCSL indictee (RUF case). Sierra Leonean - Between 1998 and 1999, this man was Maskita’s deputy. Became the interim leader of the RUF in 2000 and 2001. Was a central link between the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance.
Other key individuals, whose names the Court will hear:
MORRIS KALLON and AUGUSTINE GBAO
High ranking officers of the RUF who played an important role in the link between the AFRC/RUF alliance and the Accused.
DENNIS MINGO AKA “SUPERMAN”
Dennis Mingo - Liberian – an NPFL commander who stayed with the RUF early on - one of the highest commanders in the RUF – he played an important part in the link with the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance. He was killed in 2001.
JOHNNY PAUL KOROMA
Johnny Paul Koroma – Sierra Leonean, a former member of the SLA, Chairman of the AFRC Junta in 1997 and 1998 and in that time played an important role in the link between the Accused and AFRC/RUF. An indictee of the SCSL, whereabouts unknown.
ALEX TAMBA BRIMA AKA “GULLIT” BRIMA BAZZY KAMARA, and SANTIGIE BORBOR KANU AKA “55”
Of course they are Accused that are on trial before Your Honours, and here I will only say that he will present evidence in this trial to show that played a role in the linkage between the Accused and the AFRC/RUF alliance.
EDDIE KANNEH
Eddie Kanneh - Sierra Leonean - former SLA officer who joined the RUF in 1998; main diamond man for the AFRC /RUF alliance in the dealings with the Accused especially from 1998 onwards,
and others whose names you will become familiar with during the course of this trial. Like the Accused, each member of the criminal enterprise participated in and contributed to the common plan in different ways.
Begins in
1988 or 1989: military training in North Africa, of Charles Taylor (Liberia), Foday Sankoh (SL) and other later leaders of the RUF. A plan is formulated by the Accused and others to take over political and physical control of Sierra Leone in order to exploit its abundant natural resources and to establish a friendly or subordinate government there to facilitate this exploitation.
Part of larger strategy included helping each other militarily in their respective revolutions and take over in their respective countries.
Creation of National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) (Liberian movement), the RUF (SL movement).
The agreement made by the Accused and Sankoh was to begin the implementation of the common plan in Liberia with the help of Sankoh’s forces. Liberia would then be used as a base from which to move into Sierra Leone with the help of the Accused’s forces.
Access to Sierra Leone’s abundant resources was the primary object of the common plan. In addition, Sierra Leone was also a source of manpower. The RUF and the NPFL personnel at various points were interchangeable, with NPFL forces sometimes fighting in Sierra Leone, and RUF forces fighting in Liberia.
Some may say that the RUF was fighting in Sierra Leone was one of national liberation. The evidence will show that there was a thin veneer of ideology masking the real motives of destruction and exploitation.
At the very end of 1989, the relevant events begin to unfold in the region:
24 December 1989: Beginning of the Liberian civil war with attack by NPFL in Nimba County in Liberia (from positions in Ivory Coast). Help in that civil war from RUF OFA elements By August 1990: The Economic Community of West African States deployed a peacekeeping force, under the leadership of Nigeria and Ghana, known as ECOMOG to enforce a ceasefire in Liberia, and to establish stability to make way for elections. Its deployment was opposed by Taylor, and it is soon in conflict with his forces. The then government of Sierra Leone, under President Momoh, was a contributing member, and allowed ECOMOG to be based on its territory. By November 1990, the Accused has firm control over large parts of Liberia. He was the regular guestost of Robin White on the BBC. 1 November 1990: He is interviewed by White, the broadcast of which you will hear. Taylor says: CT: … I have had enough of the Sierra Leonean Government permitting Nigerian aircraft to come out and kill my people. I'm saying that planes are taking off from bases at the international airport in Freetown at the end of the runway that leave and come and blow Liberian babies, women and old people away and my patience has run out in Momoh permitting this to happen from his territory.
RW: But how exactly do you propose to stop it?
CT: It's anybody's guess. Maybe Momoh doesn't know but he'll soon find out.
RW: Are you, are you suggesting that you will go and attack Sierra Leone yourself?
CT: That's not what I'm saying, but it's for Momoh to determine.
It is important also to know that during this 1989-1991 period, there was Training of Sierra Leoneans in Camp Nama outside Gbarnga (BANGA) in Bong County, Taylor’s headquarters, by mainly NPFL Liberians instructors: SL trained in Liberia called Vanguards: Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, Augustine Gbao all Vanguards. On 23 March 1991 there was a cross border attack on Bomaru town, Upper Bambara Chiefdom, by NPFL forces.
On 27 March 1991, a group of RUF/NPFL entered Kailahun District from Liberia through the town of Koindu in the north of the District.
On 28 March 1991, another RUF/NPFL group crossed the Moa River forming the border between Liberia and Sierra Leone, in the south-east part of the country. They immediately occupied Zimmi, the southern-most town on the road network in Pujehun District.
Early in April 1991, the Liberians launched the attack on a full scale and my mid-April had joined their fronts in Sierra Leone.
The continuing role of Taylor will clearly be shown by a letter from Sankoh to Taylor of 5 May 1992, that will be offered in evidence:
“Dear Brother:
I am thanking you very much for the brotherly help you are rendering me in my liberation struggle…”
“I appreciate the five boxes of AK-47 raffle ammunition and ten boxes of RPG gun rockets which I should receive from you today… I believe that what you have offered is not enough to carry out the “Operation Capture Daru”. So I am asking you in the name of the Almighty God to kindly increase the number of boxes of AK-47 ammunition to (20) twenty and that of the RPG rockets to (12) twelve plus some berretta rounds. This will sustain me for some time while awaiting the long term supply that you have promised me.”
1991-1992: First period of the SL civil war and total involvement of the NPFL in the war with massive atrocities committed against civilians by NPFL. Supplies coming from the Accused in Liberia who is directing the war in SL.
RUF/NPFL troops gain ground in the first period of the war. Took Kono in 1992 - the diamonds fields are attacked and taken for a short time.
In 1991-1992, Ibrahim Bah creates ties with the RUF of Sankoh and on behalf of the Accused starts to organize and set up some arms shipments for the RUF from third countries.
Regular shipments of arms and ammunition by trucks by the Accused from Gbarnga in Liberia to the RUF in SL using the only main road in Lofa County
It must be remembered that that these weapons do not dissolve, melt or go away, they stay in the country, and are used repeatedly in conflicts in years far beyond 1991-1992, in preparation for activities in years to come.
1992-1993: The conflict continues in Sierra Leone, but on the Liberian side there is new force the (Y)ULIMO (United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia) which leads rebellion in Lofa County (bordering SL) and cut the main road in the County (Zorzor-Voinjama) where arms and ammunition used to go from Gbarnga in Liberia to Sierra Leone. From that time until 1996-1997 no deliveries of arms and ammunition from the Accused to RUF by trucks. But, ongoing communications and movements of troops from NPFL to RUF, Liberia to SL, continued, using footpaths. 1992-1994: Some RUF elements fought alongside the NPFL and other organized armed groups in Lofa County against the ULIMO in attempts to re-establish the supply line and the supply route. March 1994: As a result of the end of the Accused’s deliveries of weapons to Sierra Leone, the RUF decided to change tactics and to retreat within the bush in SL and do hit and run operations. Creation in the forest of the base Zogoda in the Kambui Hills in Kenema district which will remain the RUF base until end 1996. Sometime between 1993 and 1996: Some NPFL troops pushed by ULIMO out of Lofa County and retreated to RUF held territories in SL. They fight in Sierra Leone alongside the RUF until the Accused became President in 1997. One of the Liberian commanders of these fighters was Daniel Tamba aka “Jungle” who, because of his past links with the RUF, became the main liaison officer for the Accused between Liberia and SL from 1997 onwards. There is an ebb and flow of the conflict in Sierra Leone, and in February-March 1996, Abdul Tejan Kabbah is elected President of Sierra Leone after two rounds of the presidential election. The polling is characterized by RUF violence to prevent public participation in the election.
There is eventually a peace agreement signed at Abidjan in Ivory Coast in November 1996 between the RUF and the Kabbah government.
However, there is a coup in Sierra Leone, less than six months after the Abidjan peace accord, when the by the soldiers of the Sierra Leone Army launched which overthrew the government of President Kabbah.
Following this coup, the RUF entered into an alliance and joined forces with the AFRC and collectively, were referred to as the “AFRC/RUF Junta”. Leaders of the RUF become members of the Junta Government.
Meanwhile, for Liberia there is a peace agreement signed at Abuja in Ivory Coast which pave the way for elections, in which the Accused in elected President in July 1997.
Back in Sierra Leone, the AFRC/RUF junta is not recognized by the international community and is soon in conflict with ECOMOG forces, and a Civil Defence Force that fights in support of the elected government of Sierra Leone.
July-October 1997: Ibrahim Bah is sent by CT to Freetown to liaise with the AFRC/RUF members of the Junta and find way to provide them with weapons. Ibrahim Bah arranged both the payment for and delivery of the Magburaka arms shipments which arrived in October 1997 and helped the AFRC Junta to keep going for four more months. Another of CT’s liaison is sent to Freetown at that time: Daniel Tamba aka “Jungle”. 14 February 1998: ECOMOG pushed AFRC/RUF alliance out of Freetown; massive retreat of AFRC/RUF troops in the countryside. Around 14 February 1998 - Some members of the AFRC managed to flee Freetown on board a plane destined for Monrovia, but are arrested at the airport in Monrovia by ECOMOG posted in the airport in spite of the Accused’s attempt to rescue them. This angers the Accused who orders ECOMOG in Liberia to leave the country. The same day the Accused calls Bockarie in SL and tells him that he will get arms and ammunitions to fight ECOMOG in SL. He will engage ECOMOG militarily in Sierra Leone through the AFRC/RUF, who continue their alliance after the retreat from Freetown.
As we will here, in the presentation of my learned colleague, Mr. Bangura, this leads to massive atrocities.
Around February-March 1998: the Accused sends people to get Bockarie in Buedu and bring him in Monrovia. Bockarie is given money and a satellite phone by the Accused. The Accused gives Bockarie instructions to hold Kono, hold the mining fields.
- Feb-April 1998: Liberian disarmament: Evidence will show that the Accused orchestrates a scheme whereby the RUF purchase weapons from former ULIMO-K combatants (opposed to the Accused in the Liberian civil war in Lofa county) - thereby effectively disarming opposition group in Liberia, and arming the RUF. The Accused gives money to Bockarie, the defacto leader of RUF (Sankoh is in jail) for the purchase of some of these arms and ammunition,
Throughout 1998: Ongoing communication between Benjamin Yeaten and Sam Bockarie, between the Accused and Bockarie, between the radio communicators in SL and Liberia; numerous trips of the Accused’s representatives to Buedu in Monrovia and numerous deliveries of arms, ammunitions and other supplies; regular updates to the Accused from his representatives in Buedu about the situation in SL and in the AFRC/RUF; several trips of the RUF high command to Monrovia to meet with Yeaten and the Accused. September-October 1998: the Accused sends Liberian troops to SL to reinforce the AFRC/RUF. At this point, it has taken the Accused eight years to conquer power and he is now Head of State. The Accused has spent lots of money (arms) and men in SL. Sankoh is in jail. The Accused does not want young bush commanders (RUF) sabotaging it. The Accused sends explicit instructions (radio communications) and puts “eyes and ears” on the ground in Buedu to know what is happening and act if necessary (Tamba “Jungle”).
November-December 1998: Some of the closest men of the Accused spend a lot of time in Buedu with Bockarie to prepare a major country-wide offensive; around that same period Bockarie and the Accused’s men travel to organise a major arms and ammunition shipments which is delivered to Buedu in December 1998. December-January 1998/1999: major AFRC/RUF offensive which led to recapture of Koidu town, Makeni and many other towns. Then there is the invasion of Freetown in 1999 by the AFRC, which my colleague will show was done in coordination with RUF forces.. January 1999: Bockarie promoted to General by the Accused. 1999: CT sent men to assess the diamonds fields in SL. Throughout 1999: ongoing communication between Benjamin Yeaten and Bockarie, between the Accused and Bockarie, between the radio communicators in SL and Liberia; numerous trips of the Accused’s representatives between Monrovia and Buedu, in the Kailahun district of Sierra Leone, and numerous deliveries of arms, ammunitions and other supplies; regular updates to the Accused from his representatives in Buedu about the situation in SL and in the AFRC/RUF; several trips of the RUF high command to Monrovia to meet with Yeaten and the Accused. Sometime in 1999: LURD – formed mainly by Mandingo former ULIMO fighters – attack Liberian positions from Guinea. Fear that the LURD - as ULIMO did in the 1990s – would cut off the Liberian-SL supply line. War starts again in Liberia, which has consequences in Sierra Leone.
After March 1999 – CT used the RUF to fight against the LURD in Lofa county. In the Accused’s various offensives launched against the rebel movement known as the LURD, he was able to draw on troop reinforcements from the RUF.
There were two significant offensives of the LURD which the AFRC/RUF from Sierra Leone fought in Liberia, in April 1999, the other in mid-2000 onwards. During there first deployment there was massive looting by the AFRC/RUF in Liberia. Meanwhile, there are negotiations for a peace in Sierra Leone. Though the AFRC/RUF alliance no longer controls Freetown, the offensive has left it in control of much of country including the diamond fields. The Accused’s representatives are present in Lomé, in Togo, and he and the RUF are able to strike a very favorable bargain in Accords that were finalized on 9 July 1999.
Despite atrocities having been committed just weeks before, an amnesty is declared, and RUF Sankoh is put in charge of the mining industry.
October 1999: UN Security Council resolution 1270 establishes UNAMSIL to enforce the Lome peace accords. 2000: RUF in control of large part of Sierra Leone and continues to exploit mineral resources. Several trips of the RUF high command to see the Accused in Monrovia. Regular shipments of supplies from the Accused to the RUF in SL. The Accused’s men keep visiting the RUF held territories and updating the Accused on what is going on there. May 2000: Abduction of the UNAMSIL peacekeepers by the RUF troops. Demonstration in Freetown outside Sankoh’s house and 25 civilians killed. Sankoh arrested some days later with many RUF commanders. ECOWAS appointed the Accused to ensure that the RUF complies with the terms of the Lomé agreement and frees UN peacekeepers. Mid-2000: UNAMSIL hostages send by the RUF to the Accused in Monrovia for him to release them and send them to Freetown. Why is this relevant to these criminal charges? Because, again, it demonstrates the power of the accused to control the RUF. He could when he wanted to prevent crimes committed by these forces, and he had not acted prevent the crime of abduction occurring in the first place.
August 2000: Resolution 1315 of the UN SC on the establishment of the Special Court. -Mid to Late 2000 : the Accused orders the RUF to start operations in Guinea as the Accused thinks that the Guinean government is backing the LURD (second offensive).RUF fighters were sent to Liberia by Sesay on the orders of the Accused. The focus of the attack was an attack on the Guinean town of Guékuédou and holding the Liberian town of Foya. He ordered them to kill everyone and burn down all the houses. Materiel in support in of the operation are supplied from Liberia through Kailahun in SL. December 2000: UN report on SL details extensive support for RUF by the Accused’s government and recommends a complete embargo on all diamonds in Liberia. 2001: Dennis Mingo aka “Superman” is killed in Liberia. May 2001: UN Security Council imposes arms embargo to punish the Accused for trading weapons for diamonds with the RUF. Sanctions include travel ban. January 2002: War declared over in SL, but AFRC/RUF troops still fighting in Liberia. January-February 2002: LURD defeated RUF and the Accused’s troops at Lofa County and by mid-February are 44 kilometres from Monrovia. The Accused declared a state of emergency in Liberia War over in Sierra Leone - demobilization programme – that weakened the Accused and within 18 months LURD had pushed the Accused out of power, but not before the Accused has killed Jungle and Bockarie.
D. CAMPAIGN OF TERROR
The Prosecution will lead evidence that the Accused through the senior leaders of the organised group known as the Revolutionary United Front (or “RUF”) instructed commanders to follow a certain modus operandi (same as the NPFL at all times during Liberian civil war - 1989-1996 and 1999-2003).
Attacks against the civilian population typically began with an armed attack against a civilian village, town or city, carried out by members of the RUF, Junta, AFRC/RUF and/or Liberians subordinate to the Accused. The attackers used a variety of arms and other materiel to take control of all or part of the village, town or city. The attack against this civilian locale involved the murder killing of many civilians. Typically the attackers would enslave large numbers of the civilians, to use as fighters, miners, farmers, domestic workers, nnot allowing them to leave the control of the attackers. Those who objected to their captivity or attempted to flee were routinely killed or beaten. Also typically the attackers would rape women and girls, often repeatedly, and then use them as “bush wives”. The attackers would mutilate the captive civilians. Children are conscripted by attackers, often after killing their parents, with the children provided with drugs and weapons, and conditioned to view their commanders as the new leaders of their family. In addition, the attackers would typically loot and burn the homes of the civilians. This was the brutal and bloody strategy which, under the command and control of the Accused, was followed by those on the ground in Sierra Leone. In essence, it wasn’t the military capability of their opponents that the RUF targeted for destruction. If the Accused and the groups subordinate to or associated with him had limited themselves to active hostilities against the government forces of SL and the organized armed groups aligned with those forces, would not be here today.
But this was a campaign of terror. It reached its peak in 1998 and the senseless carnage which was being wrought in Sierra Leone was succinctly summed up by UNHCR in its Report as follows:
[DOC. - EXHIBIT 1.020: UNHCR Report on Atrocities Committed Against Sierra Leone Population, UNHCR Conakry Branch Office, 28 January 1999 (Rev. 2), Report on and pictures of 38 victims of violence during the year 1998.] "It soon became clear that the scale and nature of the crimes perpetrated served only two purposes: intimidation and humiliation." "...perpetrators of these crimes do not discriminate with regard to age, sex, ethnic origin or other criteria in the choice of their victims."
My colleague, Mr. Bangura will now rise to outline the evidence about this campaign of terror, specifically as to the crimes perpetrated against the people of Sierra Leone, as alleged in the Amended Indictment.
MR. BANGURA – DISCUSSION OF THE CRIME BASEI. INTRODUCTION
Your honours, this afternoon I will present to the Court the crimes charged in the Second Amended Indictment as they unfolded in Sierra Leone between November 1996 and January 2002.
We have told you that you will hear evidence from which you can infer there was a plan… that the Accused was involved in the creation of this plan …that he participated in this plan with others.
What I will present now to the Court are the details of the devastating effect that this plan had on the civilians of Sierra Leone. Evidence will be led showing that the Accused knew of these devastating effects but continued with the plan.
I will touch on what actually happened in Sierra Leone as stated in the indictment, and the crimes that were perpetrated there. Crimes that were perpetrated with the aim of causing terror.
Your Honours, the Prosecutor has already enumerated the crimes which we charge in the Indictment.
This Court will hear evidence that the people of Sierra Leone suffered.
From Kenema to Kono, whole villages were destroyed. The capital was under siege. No one was safe, young or old. Families were forced to turn on each other and then were torn apart. The main victims of the war in Sierra Leone were poor, defenceless civilians, ordinary country folks, who had nothing to do with politics, governance or corruption, and who had nowhere to hide. They longed for peace but were instead subjected to years of atrocities, atrocities which are reflected in the indictment and for which we stand here and allege that the accused, Charles Ghankay Taylor, bears responsibility.
Your honours, you will hear the perpetrators of these crimes being referred to by various names: “RUF”, “Rebels”, “RUF rebels”, “Peoples Army”, “AFRC”, “AFRC/RUF”, “Junta”, “Junta Rebels.”
No matter what name they were called, the story is the same – all these groups committed mindless acts of violence, terror and degradation, devoid of any human reason. You will hear that the man who gave orders to the leaders of these groups…..who provided safe haven to these groups…… who provided much-needed weapons and supplies to these groups…who encouraged and aligned himself to these groups… sits accused in this courtroom today.
Your Honours have heard the names of some of the associates and subordinates of the Accused who provided many of the links to the crimes perpetrated in Sierra Leone, and through whom the Accused acted alongside to further the common plan - Sam Bockarie - MOSQUITO, Ibrahim Bah, Benjamin Yeaten, Colonel Jungle and Issa Sesay…Your Honours, I ask you to remember these names, which will echo in these chambers throughout this trial. The accused may not have set foot in Sierra Leone during the alleged time period, but he stamped his mark indelibly on the whole country.
The crimes included in the Indictment took place between the 30th of November, 1996 and the 18th of January, 2002. This was but part of a conflict that lasted over 10 years. However, it was in this period that the seeds sown by the Accused and the other participants in the common plan bore their most bitter fruits.
Your honours, let me describe the significance of Kailahun and Kono Districts.
II. KAILAHUN
Kailahun District, bordering Liberia, was throughout the conflict the corridor between Liberia and Sierra Leone. This District has a long history with the RUF and the NPFL, and was one of the first targets of the RUF and NPFL forces in 1991. Your honours will hear that later, the town of Buedu became the RUF stronghold and the location of its headquarters.
During the conflict, for fighters on either side of the border, Kailahun District and Lofa County, Buedu and Foya, were one territory, one group of people, all fighting the same fight, aiming towards the same goal. Geographical boundaries had no meaning.
What had meaning in this conflict were diamonds. Between 1998 and 2000, diamonds mined by forced labour were first taken to the headquarters in Buedu and from there to the Accused in Liberia. In return, arms, ammunition and supplies were regularly transported through Lofa County to Buedu. The Prosecution will present evidence that Buedu was a place stocked with arms and ammunition supplied by the Accused. These arms were then distributed to the AFRC/RUF forces throughout the country.
Buedu was for a large part of the conflict the epi-centre of operations. In 1998 and 1999, Bockarie directed, planned, and ordered operations from Buedu, including the 1998 attacks on Kono and Makeni. These attacks killed and maimed hundreds of innocent civilians.
III. KONO DISTRICT
Right next door to Kailahun District is Kono District, a major diamond mining area. Diamonds were at the heart of the common plan because they helped fuel the war.
In exchange for diamonds, the Accused provided the RUF, and later the Junta, with much needed arms and ammunition, enhancing their ability to continue the war. It is clear that the district’s strategic importance lay in its economic value.
In February 1998, on loosing control of Freetown, the need to control the country’s other strategic areas became even more critical.
The Accused’s order to the Junta in around March 1998 was clear: “Hold Kono”.
This order was conveyed by Bockarie to his men.
But in April 1998, the AFRC/RUF lost control of Koidu Town in the heart of Kono. This loss triggered the launch of two brutal attacks to try to re-take the town in order to obey the Accused’s command.
With assistance provided by the Accused including a supply of arms, the RUF and AFRC rebels launched their attacks on ECOMOG and the Civil Defence Forces, known as the CDF, in Koidu Town and its surrounding areas. In the coming months you will see and hear evidence of the crimes committed during these attacks.
This series of attacks was called Fiti-Fata in Krio, the local parlance of Sierra Leone.
Your Honours, I would like to use the words of a witness to describe what Fiti-Fata meant in the context of the attacks. It meant:
twenty four hours .. without any control. If an RUF fighter wished to kill someone, he could kill anyone he wished.
In other words, your Honours, there were no rules and no one was safe.
The civilians of Kono paid a heavy price for living in such a mineral rich area. During the Indictment period, many areas of Kono were razed to the ground.
You will hear evidence of the order given by Morris Kallon of the RUF to burn Koidu Town.
You will also hear evidence of the order of another rebel commander, given casually to his men, to “light candles”, which meant to burn homes.
However, the evidence will show that the destruction that resulted was anything but casual. The destruction was part of the overall campaign of terror charged under Count 1 of the Indictment.
Killings
Your honours, this campaign of terror also included the unlawful killings which occurred in Kono and Kailahun and are charged under Counts 2 and 3. Let me describe two incidents.
The Prosecution will call a witness who will describe the joint AFRC and RUF attack on Koidu Town around May 1998.
This witness will describe how he was taken captive and forced to walk to Koidu Town. On this walk, the witness stepped over corpses, stepping in blood - pools of blood.
The witness estimated that he stepped over about 50 corpses.
However, this is not where his trauma would end. Instead, on arrival the men, women and children were divided into groups, made to stand in line, and then RUF rebels opened fire on them. 101 people were killed.
In Kailahun, the killings were equally as shocking. One particularly horrific killing during this period was the execution of approximately 65 men in Kailahun Town who were suspected CDF fighters. These men were captured and detained for several days before Bockarie ordered their execution. Bockarie himself participated in the killing, shooting some of the men in the head at close range.
Physical Violence
Physical violence is also charged for Kailahun and Kono under Counts 7 and 8 of the Indictment.
The prosecution alleges that the AFRC/RUF engaged in widespread acts of physical violence in Kono, Kailahun and other parts of the country and that in Kono, villages such as Tombodu, Kaima and Wondedu suffered brutal attacks that took many forms including but not limited to the application of force with weapons, the mutilation of civilians, and the amputation of limbs.
The Prosecution will lead evidence of what can only be called a barbaric practice of the RUF and AFRC, namely to carve the letters R-U-F or A-F-R-C or AFRC/RUF into the flesh of captured civilians. The evidence will include testimony as well of demonstrative and photographic evidence which show the scars that still exist on the bodies of some.
The evidence will suggest that this practice had a strategic element, in that the AFRC/RUF fighters were of the view that carving their letters into their captives would result in them being identified by other free civilians as RUF or AFRC fighters. Consequently, the scarred captives would be unwelcome in civilian villages and back in their homes. This practice was part of an overall strategy to terrorize civilians thus holding a large population of people not only in Kono but throughout the country in a state of physical and psychological captivity.
The prosecution will introduce evidence of what we respectfully suggest is the most well-known atrocity inflicted on persons in Sierra Leone at the relevant times of the indictment, namely amputations. We will call witnesses who either saw or were themselves victims of amputations and they will describe not only the physical acts of cutting off limbs but also the words of the rebels who allegedly committed these acts.
You will hear evidence that victims were told that they should go to President Kabbah to ask for new hands. In the words of one rebel commander after ordering the amputation of many civilians:
“You see, you don’t want Foday Sankoh, you want Tejan Kabbah. Well, go to him to get new hands.’
Rapes and sexual slavery,
Sexual crimes were also committed in Kailahun and Kono and are charged under Counts 4, 5, and 6.
Your Honours, our evidence will show that the practice of using women as sex slaves became widespread and commonplace among the RUF, and later the AFRC/RUF fighters throughout the war.
You will hear that Sierra Leonean women captured by the RUF or AFRC were forced to make strategic choices that no woman should ever have to make.
These women would seek to become attached to a single commander or fighter as a “bushwife” because this was the best way to limit the abuse they would suffer. The alternative was, and I quote a witness, that a woman would be treated “like a football in the field”, being exposed to one rape after another, perpetrated by many men without any consideration for health, feelings or lives.
Your honours will hear evidence that the girls and women of Sierra Leone were subjected to extreme sexual violence. That they were abducted and raped, oftentimes publicly, oftentimes by numerous fighters, oftentimes for extended periods of time, and then generally forced into sexual slavery.
You will hear that girls and women were forced to continue performing sexual acts as well as domestic duties for their fighter “husbands”. Those who dared to escape and were caught were either killed or were marked with “RUF” on their bodies.
Forced Labour
During the Indictment period, as set out in Count 10 of the Indictment, civilians in Kono and Kailahun, were harnessed and forced to work intensively towards the war effort.
Aside from domestic duties forced upon female captives, men and women of all ages throughout Sierra Leone were forced to perform other types of work for the rebels without pay.
Abductees were forced to work on RUF farms in Kailahun District. They were also forced at gunpoint to carry arms, ammunition, food, fuel and other supplies from Buedu to Koidu Town – a distance of over 70 miles following narrow bush paths.
In Kono, diamond miners were often forced to work without food. Those who were too tired to work were stripped and beaten and, in some instances, killed.
Diamonds mined under these conditions were given to senior AFRC/RUF commanders and were then sent to the Accused in exchange for arms, ammunition and supplies. Evidence will show that the Accused sent his subordinates from Liberia to provide advice to Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay on the Kono mining operations, thus protecting his own economic interests.
You will hear evidence that in an effort to strengthen the rebel forces and to sow the seeds of the common plan, AFRC/RUF commanders ordered the training of captured civilians and then forcibly conscripted them into the ranks of the fighting force.
In Kailahun and Kono, abducted civilians were trained at Bayama, Pendembu, Bunumbu, Koinadugu and Yengema.
The training often involved severe beatings for those who were uncooperative, and sometimes resulted in deaths of the trainees. Your honours will hear evidence that from Liberia, the Accused provided arms and ammunition, rice and food for these training camps, where abducted civilians and children were forcibly trained.
VI. KENEMA DISTRICT
Your honours, let me move to another diamond rich area, Kenema District.
This District is home to the famous Tongo Fields. As we already saw in Kono, such wealth attracted much violence. In 1997 and 1998, these fields produced a bitter harvest, which resulted in Counts 1, 2, 3 and 10 being charged for this district.
In the context of the Indictment, the crimes charged for Kenema are those which took place largely during the Junta period. The significance of diamonds to the survival of the Junta regime cannot be overemphasised, and this was evidenced by the very presence of Sam Bockarie himself in Kenema throughout this period.
That being said, the need for diamonds was so great that they were to be mined, no matter what the human price.
The governing body of the AFRC regime – the Supreme Council – which was located in Freetown, received frequent updates from the mining commanders on the number of diamonds extracted and other essential information regarding productivity.
The junta government was not recognized by the international community and had to rely on its own resources. Therefore, simply as a matter of survival and to pay for the rice for its soldiers, and the weapons needed to fight the ECOMOG troops, the diamond fields in Kenema needed to be intensively mined by civilians.
This internationally isolated regime did have one friend, though: The Accused.
Your Honours have heard the name Ibrahim Bah. Ibrahim Bah organized an air shipment of arms and ammunition to Magburaka for the Junta. This shipment, known as the Magburaka Arms Shipment, was paid for partially by illegally mined diamonds. We allege that this shipment was organized by Bah on the Accused’s behalf and kept the otherwise unstable and unrecognized Junta going for about another 4 months.
Your honours, the conditions of miners working in the diamond fields was harsh and brutal. Mining was undertaken in areas such as the notorious “Cyborg Pit”. Child soldiers renowned for their brutality guarded the miners at gunpoint.
This period of intense forced mining was punctuated by frequent killings. Many civilians were killed at Cyborg Pit, some because they were suspected of stealing diamonds, others because their deaths helped instil a climate of terror that would deter escapes. Terror was guaranteed to be generated when, on the orders of Bockarie, miners in Cyborg Pit were fired on indiscriminately.
Indeed, this was a district controlled by fear. You will hear evidence about one infamous event in the township of Kenema where several community leaders accused of supporting the CDF were detained and tortured. Subsequently, several of the detainees, including B S Massaquoi, a former Cabinet Minister and municipal leader of Kenema, were killed on the orders of Bockarie.
IV. PORT LOKO DISTRICT
Your honours, I move to Port Loko. Count 11, pillage, is charged for this district between 1 February 1998 to about 30 April 1998.
In February 1998, the Junta, which had ruled for just short of a year, was finally routed by ECOMOG forces. This event, known as the Intervention, resulted in the withdrawal of the RUF and AFRC forces from Freetown. As the forces withdrew, their passage was marked by violence and looting. This passage from West to East is reflected in the districts and towns charged in the Indictment under Count 11 for the crime of looting.
Masiaka is a town in Port Loko District. It was here, in this district and in particular Masiaka, that the defeated members of the former Junta and their men received the infamous order for the forces to “pay themselves”.
V. BOMBALI
This journey of retreat and looting took the forces to Bombali, and accordingly, this district is included under Counts 1 and 11 of the Indictment.
Makeni is a strategic town in Bombali District which controls the route between Freetown and Kono and facilitates access to the northern and eastern areas.
Once Operation Pay Yourself had been announced in Masiaka in February 1998, the forces simply kept heading east back to their strongholds, taking whatever they came across in the villages and towns they passed through.
VII. FREETOWN & WESTERN AREA
Freetown and the Western Area encompasses the city of Freetown and the entire Peninsula. Freetown is the capital of Sierra Leone and the seat of political power. After the May 97 coup, Freetown was the Junta’s headquarters. In February 1998, Johnny Paul Koroma and many other senior Junta leaders fled from Freetown, in their wake their forces abducted civilians and took them to Kono and other areas in Sierra Leone. Freetown again came into focus at the end of ’98. The final objective of the operation commencing with the attack on Kono District was to re-take control of Freetown in order to re-establish political control over the country.
The movement towards Freetown, the invasion of Freetown and then the retreat from Freetown covering the period from the end of 1998 until early 1999 is the focus of the crimes charged in the Indictment.
On re-establishing control over Koidu town, AFRC/RUF forces from Kono, under the command of Issa Sesay, and from Koinadugu, under the command of “Superman”, launched co-ordinated attacks on Makeni which led to the takeover of the town.
In the meantime, the forces of Alex Tamba Brima and SAJ Musa were on their way to the next target - Freetown.
The advance to Freetown began in Rosos and took the route through Waterloo in the Western Area to Benguema, from Hastings to Jui, from Allen Town to Calaba Town, from Wellington to Kissy, and from Up Gun into the city centre. A large number of Liberian NPFL fighters were sent to Buedu from Liberia in 1998 to reinforce the AFRC and RUF forces on their planned attacks. A good number of these Liberian fighters went from Buedu with Superman to Koinadugu in mid 1998 to join SAJ Musa in the Northern Jungle. They later reinforced the forces of Alex Tamba Brima at Colonel Eddie Town, and entered Freetown with the predominantly AFRC forces Throughout the attack, AFRC/RUF commanders in the Freetown area were communicating with AFRC/RUF commanders on other fronts.
For the people of Freetown, the January 6 invasion, did not come as a complete surprise. What astounded the population was the viciousness of the attack.
With the State House under their control and the central prison gates flung wide open, the invaders had free reign over the eastern and central parts of the city for almost 2 weeks.
AFRC/RUF forces were eventually forced to retreat eastwards by ECOMOG and other SLA forces. However, they took with them a huge band of abductees. In this band were able-bodied men and a large number of young girls and children. Left behind, in the now empty streets, thousands lay dead, as vultures fed on decomposing bodies.
You will hear evidence that the city’s hospitals and clinics were full beyond capacity with the wounded and the dying. Whole streets lay abandoned. Houses burnt. Wrecked and abandoned vehicles littering the streets. As if this was not enough, waves of freshly amputated civilians began streaming into the city from the eastern outskirts, sending a grim reminder that the invaders were still close. Hospital corridors soon became lined with amputees.
The Accused’s responsibility for the events of January 6 and its aftermath will be established through Prosecution witnesses who will testify to the following facts.
First, throughout the Invasion period, Bockarie became the only spokesperson for the forces. Such was Bockarie’s importance that he negotiated the ceasefire on behalf of the fighters on the ground. Bockarie was known for his vanity, he had no hesitations about making public his role and gave a number of interviews on the BBC. In one he threatened to “burn Freetown” and in another he referred to the Accused as his “chief”.
Second, there was ongoing radio communication throughout the Freetown invasion between Bockarie and Alex Tamba Brima. These communications increased as the fighters took over State House, gained control over the city until they eventually retreated from State House. Orders from Bockarie to Alex Tamba Brima included holding the city while RUF reinforcements were being provided. Later, they dealt with issues of ceasefire, the burning of embassies, the retreat as well as other orders. Brima complied with these orders
Third, RUF fighters and some Liberian Fighters sent by the Accused weeks before the invasion, reinforced the fighters of Alex Tamba Brima, and enhanced the military strength of the forces which entered Freetown on that fateful day of 6 January 1999.
In addition, Bockarie ordered that the RUF fighters in Waterloo ensure the safe passage of the retreating RUF/AFRC forces from the city by holding the Guinean ECOMOG contingent at bay.
The scale of the atrocities also indicates that the invasion should be set in context. This was the culmination of years of assistance from the Accused towards the common plan to take over of the political control of Sierra Leone. In order to achieve this objective, from May 1997 to January 1999, the RUF/AFRC alliance and the Liberian Fighters supplied by the accused, engaged the ECOMOG forces throughout the country in constant combat, and attacked their military bases. This had the effect of considerably reducing the ECOMOG capability to defend Freetown, which made the January 1999 Invasion of Freetown an inevitable success for the AFRC/RUF allied forces.
The scale of the terror that was unleashed on Freetown is unparalleled as a single event in the conflict. No other incident, event or attack by the RUF or AFRC/RUF throughout the war, involved such large scale burning of civilian property in locations throughout Freetown; such killing of civilians; such widespread beatings and amputations; such abduction of civilians; such widespread looting; and such abuse of young girls and women.
At the end of this period of extreme violence which shocked the entire world, the Accused called Bockarie to Monrovia and promoted him.
A few months after the Invasion, in mid 1999 in Monrovia, the Accused hosted Johnny Paul Koroma and some senior leaders of the AFRC. At this meeting, the Accused praised the rebel advance into Freetown and gave the delegation 15,000 dollars as a show of support.
VIII. CHILD SOLDIERS
Yet another haunting image of the conflict in Sierra Leone is that of children carrying guns taller than they were. Children were conscripted, enlisted and/or used in active hostilities throughout the war and Sierra Leone.
Count 9 of the Indictment states that between about 30 November 1996 and about 18 January 2002 members of RUF, AFRC, AFRC/RUF Junta or alliance, and/or other armed factions fighting in Sierra Leone routinely used hundreds of boys and girls under the age of 15 to participate in hostilities.
The evidence will demonstrate that a pattern was followed throughout the war. Children were abducted by the rebel fighting forces during attacks on their villages, and taken to “training camps”.
The training in these camps was harsh beyond measure. When learning to crawl to avoid fire, real bullets were often fired above the heads of the child recruits. Those who failed to follow instructions on how to crawl and who raised their heads, were killed by these bullets.
After training, some of these children were given military ranks. The children were then used by the rebels to fight at the front lines, to carry arms and ammunition to the front lines, to act as bodyguards and to provide security to commanders and fighters and to conduct reconnaissance.
This was a pattern which had been followed by the forces under the command of the Accused in Liberia in the late 1980’s and which was continued until about 2003.
The boys and girls that were trained in Sierra Leone were grouped into units called the Small Boys Unit (SBU) and the Small Girls Unit (SGU). These same names were used by the NPFL in Liberia from the early 1990’s.
IX. CONCLUSION
I would like to thank the Bench for the opportunity to address you on this historic day. It has truly been an honour for me to do so.
The people of Sierra Leone have a saying:
“Net long so taaaaaaay, doh mus clean”
Meaning
“no matter how long the night, light will come”
For years the Accused’s crimes have remained in the dark. Today, we start to shed light on his responsibility for the suffering of the people of Sierra Leone.
MR. RAPP RECOMMENCES
E. MODES/PARTICIPATION IN COMMMON PLAN
Your honours, in our pre-trial brief, we have outlined the ways in which the accused is responsible for planning, ordering and instigating the crimes. In the interests of time I would like to proceed to discuss was in which the Accused clearly aided and abetted these crimes.
Aiding and Abetting
Throughout the relevant period, the Accused provided vital and substantial assistance, encouragement or support to the RUF, then to the Junta and finally to the AFRC/RUF, which enabled these forces to conduct this widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Sierra Leone.
[DOC – EXHIBIT 1.058: (undated – 10 pages) letter to Foday Sankoh from the Black Guard Commander – summary report to FS of the situation on the ground while he has been absent. Mentions support given by CT.] “The High Command Meanwhile, Mr Taylor said his trial would not be fair because he only had one defence lawyer. His counsel walked out, defying the judge's order to stay seated.
Mr Taylor is accused of backing rebels in Sierra Leone in an 11-year campaign that killed thousand of civilians
Judge Julia Sebutinde ordered the trial to continue without Mr Taylor, amid intense protests from his lawyer, Karim Khan.
Mr Khan then left the court, saying he was not in a position to represent his client without further instruction from him.
After nearly one hour of wrangling, the prosecution began opening statements.
Proceedings at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone are expected to last between a year and 18 months, and the UK has offered to imprison Mr Taylor if he is convicted.
The former Liberian leader has been indicted on 11 charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law over his alleged role in the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone.
Mr Taylor denies them all.
Human rights campaigners hope the trial will send a signal that nobody can escape punishment for atrocities, including heads of state, although some would have preferred him to have been tried at home by his countrymen.
However fears that Mr Taylor may still be able to mobilise a militia to attack a court in Sierra Leone were among the reasons cited for the trial being moved away from West Africa.
'Not fit for purpose'
Judge Sebutinde repeatedly pressed Mr Khan on the failure of his client to appear.
"He has not thumbed his nose at the court," said Mr Khan before producing a letter in which Mr Taylor said he felt he would "not receive a fair trial at the Special Court at this time".
Mr Taylor started Liberia's civil war in 1989 and became one of a number of warlords competing for control in the West African country.
He later emerged as Liberia's most powerful politician and won the 1997 presidential election that ended the war there.
Meanwhile in 1991, one of Mr Taylor's comrades-in-arms, Foday Sankoh, started his own rebellion in Sierra Leone.
The prosecution claims Mr Taylor provided the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader with training, money, arms and ammunition to start the rebellion and even lent him fighters to take part in the initial attack.
The RUF became notorious for hacking off the hands and legs of civilians during their decade-long war.
It is alleged that Mr Taylor shared a common plan with the RUF's commanders to gain power and control over Sierra Leone, so he could gain access to its diamonds and have a government in Freetown that would support his aims.
However, the rebellion in Sierra Leone collapsed. Its war crimes court indicted the rebel leaders and Mr Taylor as well. Mr Sankoh died in 2003.
That year, Mr Taylor himself lost power in Liberia after rival militias rose up and forced him into exile in Nigeria.
He was deported by Nigeria last year in controversial circumstances and flown to The Hague to await his trial.
Proceedings are being broadcast live on four giant screens in Freetown.
Source: BBC News
Mr Khan then left the court, saying he was not in a position to represent his client without further instruction from him.
After nearly one hour of wrangling, the prosecution began opening statements.
Proceedings at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone are expected to last between a year and 18 months, and the UK has offered to imprison Mr Taylor if he is convicted.
The former Liberian leader has been indicted on 11 charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law over his alleged role in the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone.
Mr Taylor denies them all.
Human rights campaigners hope the trial will send a signal that nobody can escape punishment for atrocities, including heads of state, although some would have preferred him to have been tried at home by his countrymen.
However fears that Mr Taylor may still be able to mobilise a militia to attack a court in Sierra Leone were among the reasons cited for the trial being moved away from West Africa.
'Not fit for purpose'
Judge Sebutinde repeatedly pressed Mr Khan on the failure of his client to appear.
"He has not thumbed his nose at the court," said Mr Khan before producing a letter in which Mr Taylor said he felt he would "not receive a fair trial at the Special Court at this time".
Mr Taylor started Liberia's civil war in 1989 and became one of a number of warlords competing for control in the West African country.
He later emerged as Liberia's most powerful politician and won the 1997 presidential election that ended the war there.
Meanwhile in 1991, one of Mr Taylor's comrades-in-arms, Foday Sankoh, started his own rebellion in Sierra Leone.
The prosecution claims Mr Taylor provided the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader with training, money, arms and ammunition to start the rebellion and even lent him fighters to take part in the initial attack.
The RUF became notorious for hacking off the hands and legs of civilians during their decade-long war.
It is alleged that Mr Taylor shared a common plan with the RUF's commanders to gain power and control over Sierra Leone, so he could gain access to its diamonds and have a government in Freetown that would support his aims.
However, the rebellion in Sierra Leone collapsed. Its war crimes court indicted the rebel leaders and Mr Taylor as well. Mr Sankoh died in 2003.
That year, Mr Taylor himself lost power in Liberia after rival militias rose up and forced him into exile in Nigeria.
He was deported by Nigeria last year in controversial circumstances and flown to The Hague to await his trial.
Proceedings are being broadcast live on four giant screens in Freetown.
Source: BBC News
