6 March 2008
guest blog
The monitors of former President Charles Taylor's trial report for www.charlestaylortrial.org
The trial resumed at noon. Following is a rough guide to the discussions in court.
Pros: Before we went on break you mentioned the name Siem Kolleh- can you spell it?
Wit: Siem Kolleh.
Pros: Who is Seim Kolleh?
Wit: He was an RUF vanguard.
Pros: You testified earlier that Seim Kolleh told Morris Kallon that Sam Bockarie had sent those materials - the arms, ammunitions, and anti-aircraft gun — and had brought them from Liberia. Did Seim Kolleh say where he got them from?
Wit: Yes. At the muster parade, I was there with the RUF and AFRC members. Seim Kolleh told us that Sam Bockarie got those materials from Charles Taylor.
Pros: When you left Makeni, where did you go?
Wit: I went to Mabroka (sp?). There I attended the muster parade. Then I took a travel pass from Gbao and went to Kailahun town for some time. Then later I was posted to Pendembu.
Pros: When in Kailahun town, did you hear what happened in Makeni?
Wit: It was all about the in-fighting. It made me afraid to go back to Kailahun town. The two groups that were fighting between themselves were killing each other.
Pros: Can you recall names of any persons who died during the in-fight?
Wit: I can recall one Rambo that died during the infighting. I recalled another fighter called Bruno.
Pros: Which group did Rambo belong to?
Wit: he was part of Bockarie, Kallon and Sesay’s group.
Pros: Around may June of 1999, you were assigned to Pendembu in Kailahun district, as First Brigade IDU Chief Clerk. Who were you reporting to?
Wit: I reported to IDU First Brigade Comander, John Ngavoa. He was reporting to overall IDU commander, Augustine Gbao.
Pros: What were your duties as First Brigade IDU Chief Clerk?
Wit: My functions were as First Brigade IDU Chief Clerk, I was responsible for issuing travel pass for civilians to travel to Liberia or Guinea. Also the civilians that fighters had captured, we used to screen them at the joint security unit.
Pros Can you explain what you mean by screening of civilians at the joint security unit?
Wit: When civilians captured by the fighters and brought, we write down their names, date of birth, where they hail from, the town or village where they were born. We ask them some questions to know if they were civilians or fighters as well in the places they came from. After those processes, as Joint Security, those captured civilians, their families would come and append their signatures for them and then they would take them to stay together. The families would sign for the civilians, as we had no place to keep them or provide food for them. If the family signs for you then they would take that person. We would keep the record of them.
Pros: Where were the civilians captured from?
Wit: Around Daru area, and the Shegwema area. Some came in as returnees from Liberia.
Pros: Who captured these civilians?
Wit: RUF and AFRC fighters.
Pros: How many captured civilians were there with the RUF in Pendembu?
Wit: Amount to 500 that stayed with us in Pendembu.
Pros: What about civilians who did not have family members to sign for them?
Wit: Those that were without families, some of them fighters came and signed for them and took them to their houses.
Pros: For what purpose?
Wit: Some were taken to the houses so that they could undertake domestic work.
Pros: Did they go voluntarily?
Wit: No.
Judge: Is this hypothetical or a particular circumstance?
Judge Lussick: This line of evidence was sparked by your question, but it was never established that there were civilians without families.
Pros: When in Pendembu and screening civilians, were there civilians who did not have family members?
Wit: Sometimes it did happen.
Pros: What happened to those civilians?
Wit: Some of them, fighters would come and sign for them.
Pros: What were they taken for?
Wit: To work for them and to stay with them as human beings.
Pros: Did the civilians who went with the fighters go voluntarily?
Wit: For that, I don’t have the answer as I don’t know what was in their mind. I wouldn’t know whether they were willing or not.
Pros: How did you know they were being taken to do domestic work?
Wit: We prepared the documents as a joint security board, so whoever signs for the number of people. I came to know as I worked in that office.
Pros: Were there women among these civilians?
Wit: Yes. The only thing I knew about that is that there were some women captured by fighters, they were never brought to our office. For those who they brought to us, we conducted our screening. But I don’t know what happened to those never brought to our office.
Pros: Do you know what happened to those who came to the office?
Defense: What timeframe?
Pros: Still at stage where screened in the office. What happened afterwards follow from that. What were you asking these women questions about?
Wit: Asked about the way they were treated at the time they were captured. Some explained that they lost their properties, some complained they were forced to come. Those two complaints were many. Some said they were not willing to come. Some complained that they lost their property.
Pros: How did they lose their property?
Wit: Some explained that they were taken by the fighters forcefully. Some would say that he or she had left their property behind and not sure whether they would get their property back when they returned.
Pros: What happened to these women after you asked them questions and they told you what happened?
You’ve told this court that women were brought before the joint security office and they complained about the circumstances of their capture. This was part fo the screening process. What happened after the screening process?
Wit: For those with relatives, their relatives would come and sign for them.
Pros: Did some not have relatives to sign for them?
Wit: There were women among those groups who had no relatives to sign for them. Fighters would come and sign for them and take them to their houses. There were some fighters who did not report about women they captured from the front line,
Pros: Do you know what happened to women who were taken to fighters’ houses?
Wit: What I knew is that they had taken them to the houses. When they encountered problems, that was their domestic affairs.
Pros: What did you do with complaints of women during the time they were captured?
Wit: Those complaints were forwarded to our senior commanders.
Pros: What did senior commanders do about the complaints?
Wit: Well, there were some complaints if we were able to identify the person we would do what we want to do with the person. But if we could not trace the person, there is no way we could hold the person responsible.
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