|
|
Liberia: RUF Commander Continues Testimony
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
GUEST BLOG
6 March 2008
Posted to the web 6 March 2008
The monitors of former President Charles Taylor's trial report for www.charlestaylortrial.org
RUF Commander Continues Testimony
The trial opened this morning by dealing with preliminary motions. After that, the Prosecution witness, RUF insider, Mustapha Marvin Mansaray, 36, continued his testimony from yesterday. As he sat, wearing a white T-shirt under a grey button-down dress shirt, he looked calm throughout the first session’s testimony. He did not seem to suffer from the same watery eyes and nose as he did during yesterday’s testimony. Charles Taylor also sat calmly throughout the testimony, at times taking notes.
The following is a rough sketch of the testimony, intended to give an overview of proceedings, but should be checked against the official transcript for accuracy.
Pros: When we left off yesterday, you said Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay would sell kola nuts and coffee to buy arms and ammunition. How did Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay get these items?
Wit: From the plantations in Kailahun. There Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay got the coffee, cocoa and kola nut.
Pros: Who did the plantations belong to?
Wit: People from the Kailahun district. The war took me there - the civilians were residing in those areas before the war. They were those who cultivated the crops owned them.
Pros: How did Sam Bockerie and Issa Sesay take the items?
Wit: They would tell the G5 and the G5 would tell the chief commander, section commander and town commander. These commanders were civilians so when Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay told this to the G5, the commanders said they would tax the people according to the number of people who reside in the town, to give coffee, cocoa and kola nut. When they received that information, they would give the information to Issa Sesay and Sam Bockarie. They received those items from the civilians.
Pros: Did the civilians give these items voluntarily?
Wit: No. It was not like that. A command was given for those people to give those items to the RUF movement, so some people grumbled to produce those items, but still they would do that.
Pros: Was there ever a situation in Boidu when civilians refused to comply with these instructions?
Wit: Yes it did happen in some villages where civilians were reluctant to give their coffee, cocoa and kola nuts.
Pros: Did anything happen to those civilians?
Wit: The areas where civilians had refused to give those items were forced to do so. If they continued to refuse, some of those civilians were held in a guard room. Later they were released and it was made sure that they gave the right amount.
Pros: Where in Boidu did this happen? (Rephrase after discussion with defense and bench) - Where in Kailahun district?
Wit: This happened in Boidu when a document came out produced by Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay. It happened around villages around Boidu. It happened in Kangamou (sp?) - people refused to give coffee, cocoa and kola to RUF. There are other villages but I’ve forgotten the names. Later when I left Boidu and went to Kailahun town, and it happened in a village called Kollah Boama.
Pros: Do you know what happened to civilians in Kangamou (Sp?) who refused to give their produce?
Wit: At the time I was in Boidu as the area IDU commander. There were those who refused to give the coffee, cocoa and kola nut. The bodyguard for Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay went to Kangama. The coffee, cocoa and kola nut that was discovered in the houses of civilians or even a fighter having it in his house, were taken from them and taken to the business site where RUF and the Guinean people were doing business. That is what I know.
Pros: Apart from taking items from the house, did anything else happen to these civilians?
Wit: At the time, civilians who had wanted to stand against that would be flogged and the property taken from them. Besides beating, I don’t know about any other thing that happened to them. The bodyguards of Issa Sesay and Sam Bockarie would beat them.
|
Pros: Did you do anything about this as IDU area commander?
Wit: I used to give the information to the District IDU commander, who was in Boidu. His name was Frances Musa. The deputy district IDU commander was Shaku Coomber.
Pros: Did anything happen after you reported this to Francis Musa?
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
