|
|
Liberia: Former AFRC Combat Commander Describes Atrocities That Accompanied 1999 Rebel Withdrawal From Freetown
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
GUEST BLOG
23 April 2008
Posted to the web 29 April 2008
The monitors of former President Charles Taylor's trial report for www.charlestaylortrial.org
Prosecutor Shyamala Alagendra continued to question witness Alimamy Bobson Sesay for a sixth day today, with testimony covering a period from January to May 1999. The former combat commander for the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) described movements and communications of the rebel forces, atrocities they committed, and divisive politics within the various rebel organizations. Sesay continued to testify about the involvement of Liberians, as well as some AFRC fighters whom he said had been reorganized, armed and deployed by the order of Charles Taylor.
Clarifications
Alagendra began the day by clarifying various issues that emerged in Sesay's testimony yesterday. Among the clarifications were:
- Sesay said he knew that Gullit had reported on the outcome of a rebel operation in Kukuna to RUF leader Sam Bockarie ("Mosquito") because he had personally listened to the call.
- Sesay said the rebel plan to attack ECOMOG troops in various parts of the country to enable the capture of Freetown and prevent ECOMOG reinforcements from being sent to Freetown has been relayed from Sam Bockarie in Kailahun. Sesay said he had to read the communications to Operations Commander Hassan Papa Bangura ("Bomb Blast") because Bangura was illiterate.
- Sesay said that the group of rebels of which he was a part, consisting of Revolutionary United Front (RUF), AFRC, Special Task Force (STF) and Liberian fighters monitored radio communications from March 1998 until his arrest in 2000, regularly listening to communications about rebel movements across the country.
- Among the communications they monitored, Sesay said, were ECOMOG communications. He said that AFRC members had trained alongside Nigerian and other ECOMOG colleagues prior to the 1997 coup, and thus knew ECOMOG codes. He said that this knowledge helped the rebel forces learn of ECOMOG movements. He also said that warnings came from RUF headquarters in Kailahun when ECOMOG jets were in the air from bases in Liberia to attack rebel positions in the west.
- Sesay testified that of the prisoners the rebels released from Pademba Road Prison, the politicians among theme were sent to Makeni, then on to Kailahun.
- Sesay said that the Liberians in the Red Lion Brigade were the most feared and fierce fighters in the mixed rebel group that invaded Freetown in January 1999. He said they had no family connections in the city, so lacked all restraint in targeting civilians.
- Later in the day, Sesay clarified widespread confusion in the court about fighters with the nickname "Rambo", explaining that there were three: "RUF Rambo" (a Liberian; last week Sesay said he didn't know his real name), and two different fighters called "SLA Rambo" (Idrissa Kamara, who also used a radio call sign "Red Goat", so that he was sometimes also referred to as "Rambo Red Goat", and one named Moses Kabia). Of these Rambos, "RUF Rambo" and Idrissa Kamara had roles in the Freetown invasion and its aftermath, while Sesay said that Moses Kabia was with Johnny Paul Koroma as his in Kono during this period. Sesay further explained that there was also an Idrissa Kamara apart from "Rambo Red Goat", whose nickname was "Leatherboot".
Withdrawing from Freetown
Sesay testified that in the third week of January 1999, rebel positions came under more intense pressure from ECOMOG forces, and the rebel troops withdrew from State House (the president's residence in the capital) to eastern Freetown. At the time, the government was asking for a cease-fire, but Sesay said they were able to capture two government ministers, who were executed by order of AFRC commander Alex Tamba Brima ("Gullit"). Their bodies were displayed at a road junction.
|
The withdrawing forces was reinforced by "Rambo Red Goat" and about 50 RUF and AFRC fighters, and was able to briefly recapture State House. The witness testified that at State House, he heard Sam Bockarie on a BBC broadcast saying that he was not ready for a cease-fire, and instead was ordering Gullit to burn strategic areas of the capital and capture civilians. Sesay said that Bockarie then called Gullit on the radio in the presence of all the commanders, including himself, and ordered Gullit to commence the burning of buildings and the capture of civilians "so that there was nobody for the government to rule". Sesay testified that Gullit ordered petrol distributed to commanders, and the mixed rebel forces began to burn many buildings as they again withdrew from State House to the east.
He said Gullit ordered a group of fighters to attack the Fourah Bay section of Freetown because an AFRC soldier had been killed there. The witness took part in the operation, which involved top commanders and members of the RUF, AFRC, and the Red Lion Brigade (a group that included Liberian former fighters of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia - NPFL). This group forced civilians from their homes and killed them, then burned their houses. Some civilians were locked in their houses while they were burned. Sesay said that he and the force could hear screaming from the houses, and that they made sure no one escaped. He could not say how many civilians were killed in Fourah Bay.
After this operation, Sesay said the rebels faced continued attacks from ECOMOG and withdrew further. He said that at Upgun, Santigie Borbor Kanu ("Five-Five") said the troops should start amputating the arms and hands of civilians. He demonstrated by amputating three captured civilians with a machete: one "short sleeve" (amputation at the wrist) and two "long sleeve" (amputation at the elbow). Other commanders followed suit, telling their victims to go to President Ahmad Tejan-Kabbah for new hands.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
