6 March 2008
guest blog
The monitors of former President Charles Taylor's trial report for www.charlestaylortrial.org
The court resumed after lunch.
Pros: Before we broke for lunch, you were explaining the system of mining in Ngaiya, can you repeat what the system was called?
Witness: It was a two pile system.
Pros: Can you briefly describe the two pile system?
Wit: If civilians dug out the gravel, I would instruct my personnel to pick up the gravel - I would do it myself at times - and divide it to two piles. One would be for the RUF/AFRC movement, and the other for the civilians. We used to see diamonds in the gravel.
Pros: The part given to the civilians - what happened to it?
Wit: Sometimes we will tell them to wash it for themselves.
Pros: What happened after they washed it?
Wit: It would still be around. Security would be around them. If they had a big diamond, that would be seized from them. The mining unit would still be around. After divided the gravel, we should not go too far away from them (civilians) as possible as they may get a very big diamond and we would then take it to the diamond office, and if the office had something to give to the civilians, they would.
Pros: Did civilians find big diamonds during the two pile system?
Wit: Yes.
Pros: Were these big diamonds taken away from them?
Wit: Yes.
Pros: Was there ever an occasion where civilians did not want to give their diamonds to the RUF?
Wit: They would refuse to give them, and we would use force to make them give their diamonds to us.
Pros: What happened to civilians refused?
Wit: We were told that we should beat the civilian or kill him.
Pros: Were people beaten or killed for refusing to give their diamonds?
Wit: That used to happened. We used to beat civilians who resisted giving the diamonds to us, the mining unit.
Pros: Were any civilians killed for this reason?
Wit: In my own mining areas, I cannot recall but for the beating, yes that used to happen.
Pros: Yengema was one of the mining areas under your control. Was there an RUF training base in Yengema?
Wit: Yes, I knew about a training base in Yengema.
(problems with the questions - not included in this account)
Pros: Was there an IDU office that was operating in Kono?
Wit: Yes.
Pros: Was there a joint security office in Kono?
Wit: Yes
Pros: Did you know the commanders based there?
Wit: I did not know the commander but I knew some of the personnel.
Pros: Are you able to tell the court if the IDU personnel in Kono were treated in the diamond mining areas that you were in charge of?
Wit: Yes.
Pros: Did the IDU office in Kono know how the civilians were treated in the diamond mining areas?
Wit: They were supposed to know.
Pros: Why do you say they were supposed to know?
Wit: Because there were security personnel who were supposed to have representatives in those areas who were reporting about activities in those areas.
Pros: Did they have representatives where you were?
Wit: For the IDU, I did not see the representatives. Only the MPs.
Pros: Were the MPs aware of how the civilians were being treated in the diamond mining areas where you were?
Wit: Yes.
Pros: Did the MPs take any action?
Defense: He didn’t say how the MPs were aware, or what they were aware of.
Pros: How do you know the MPs were aware of how civilians were treated in the diamond mining areas where you were?
Wit: They were aware of the mistreatment of the civilians - Issa Sesay’s bodyguards used to capture civilians. Issa Sesay used to give the order to his bodyguards and the MPs to capture civilians. It happened in my area, my own base. They captured civilians and mined for RUFs.
Pros: Did the MPs take any action for the treatment of civilians in the diamond mines?
Wit: No. They did not take any action against any fighter for the things that they were doing to the civilians.
Pros: During the time you were in Ngaiya, do you know if anything happened at the training base at Yengema?
Wit: Yes.
Pros: How did you learn that something happened?
WIt: One night I was in Ngaiya when Issa Sesay passed through with his bodyguards. He went and arrived at Yengema and then returned and passed through Ngaiya. I learned from the miners that used to go to Yengema that Issa Sesay had gone and killed recruits at the training base. Then, I went to enquire from Pa Kosia. I asked him “I heard that Issa Sesay had gone and killed recruits at the training base?” He said “Yes, but he would need to go and investigate or ask him (Issa Sesay).”
Pros: What happened after Pa Kosia said that?
Wit: Later in the evening, I met Pa Kosia again. He said he went and asked Issa Sesay about what he had heard about the death of the recruits. He said Issa Sesay told him that if he pursued those lines of questioning, he would get punishment. Issa Sesay said he would molest (disgrace) him. Later he himself he confirmed that he killed recruits at the training base. This is why I believe.
Pros: When you say him himself confirmed that he killed recruits at the training base?
Wit: Pa Kosia. He said he asked the training commander who was at the training base.
Pros: What did the commander say?
Wit: He said Issa came and killed some of the recruits, as did some of his bodyguards.
Pros: Who was Pa Kosia.
Wit: GSO-1. General Security Officer for the RUF of Sierra Leone.
Pros: You’ve testified about your role with the IDU units between 1994 and 1999. Do you know in these areas whether the civilians knew what the IDU did?
(Stopped by bench and defense as this required going into the minds of the civilians. Proceedings paused while Pros conferred with her colleagues on how to ask the question).
Def: In the large number of pages of interviews with this witness, as far as I can tell there is no information which gives any indication of how, if at all, that civilians would have known of the IDU’s role.
Pros: During the time that you were based in Payema, did the IDU unit receive complaints from civilians?
Wit: No.
Pros: In Kailahun town (and in Boidu), did civilians make complaints to the IDU office?
Wit: Yes, civilians made complaints.
Pros: What sort of complaints did they make?
Wit: When Bockarie and Sesay stopped the people from going to their plantations the civilians came to the Boidu IDU office. But when I got to Kailahun, similar complaints were made there as well. They did not take any action.
Pros: In Kuiva, did civilians bring complaints to the IDU office?
Wit: They used to bring complaints about fighters. They used to loot the civilians property at night, then some of them had sexual intercourse with women at night in the villages. No action was taken regarding complaints made by the civilians.
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