9 May 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
Direct evidence of Taylor organizing the RUF
In Liberia, the group went to Bomi Hills. Kanneh testified that a number of commanders were there, and that Sankoh joined them. Then, he said, Charles Taylor arrived. Taylor and Sankoh addressed the 500 RUF troops in formation. Kanneh said that Taylor told them he had come with armaments and ammunition and that they should prepare to return to Sierra Leone. According to Kanneh, Taylor then divided the RUF group into two, naming the group of 250 fighters into which the witness was placed "Black Gaddafa". The witness said that Sankoh then addressed the group, reiterating everything Taylor had told them. Kanneh said that the Sierra Leoneans in Black Gaddafa were called "junior commandos", denoting that they were the first group of RUF trained in Sierra Leone.
According to Kanneh, Taylor and Sankoh told the group that the mission of Black Gaddafa was to sabotage the movement of the enemy in Sierra Leone by setting up ambushes and making areas "fearful". The witness said that Taylor and Sankoh ordered them to attack the enemy, and if they came to villages where there were no enemy soldiers, they should remove all the civilians from them. It should be noted that these alleged events precede the jurisdiction of the Special Court and the temporal scope of Taylor's indictment.
From Bomi Hills, the witness returned to Sierra Leone as a member of Black Gaddafa in early 1992. The group set a successful ambush and captured ammunition from the Sierra Leone Army, then based in Mano River. He said he left at the end of 1992, and the group was no longer known as Black Gaddafa.
Becoming an RUF officer
Kanneh said that the RUF established a base in the totality of Sogbewema Chiefdom in Pujehun district. He remained there until the end of 1993, involved in keeping guard and setting ambushes on a highway. From this base, the witness said he was called to join Foday Sankoh at his headquarters in Zogoda. Sankoh made the witness a Leftenant and made him commander of a company of over 200 RUF fighters. The witness spent a year there, maintaining defensive positions.
Kanneh was then sent to Peyama, where he joined RUF commander Sam Bockarie ("Mosquito"). He said Bockarie had been demoted from colonel to sergeant for killing a soldier without an investigation, and was now the battalion commander in Peyama. After a month, in 1995, the witness moved with Bockarie to the town of Ngiema, in Kailahun. Kanneh said he served there as a crack-force commander, to reinforce troops under siege by the enemy.
Another link to Taylor
Kanneh testified that while in Ngiema, Foday Sankoh came from peace talks in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. According to the witness, Sankoh told the assembled forces that a peace had been signed but the war was not over because times of peace meant preparing for war. Sankoh promoted Kanneh to captain, and gave Bockarie back his rank of colonel. Following the general meeting, Sankoh convened a meeting of senior officers that Kanneh said he attended. Other commanders present included Bockarie, Issa Sesay, Jungle, AB, and FOC. Kanneh said that at this meeting, Sankoh gave Bockarie his satellite phone, saying that he was leaving for Libya and that now Bockarie would take instructions from Charles Taylor. Further, Sankoh introduced Jungle to the commanders as Taylor's representative to the RUF.
Account of RUF diamond mining for Taylor
The witness said he went with Bockarie to Benguema following the AFRC coup (in May 1997), and accompanied Bockarie on daily trips into Freetown, where Bockarie participated in meetings as a member of the ruling council. After a month on another assignment in Freetown, the witness was taken by Bockarie on a mission to clear the Bo-Kenema highway of enemy Kamajor fighters. In a village called Koribundu, the RUF group killed captured Kamajors and looted property from civilians. They successfully cleared the Bo-Kenema highway, and waited in Kenema until AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma sent them a helicopter full of ammunition. The RUF group under Bockarie then proceeded to clear the road of enemies all the way to the Liberian border at Bo Waterside. After he returned with Bockarie to Kenema, they were sent to take Tongo Field, a diamond mining area.
Kanneh said the group of RUF he was with took Tongo Field, and he remained there for a month. After taking the area, he said he heard Bockarie call Taylor on the satellite phone to inform him. Kanneh said that Taylor thanked Bockarie. During that month, Kanneh said he was involved in ensuring that civilians did not escape and that enemies were repelled. Civilians were forced to dig diamonds for the AFRC and RUF for two days a week, and were beaten if they refused. On four days a week, when civilians and soldiers were nominally allowed to mine for themselves, if a civilian found a large diamond, it would be taken by the rebels anyway.
Kanneh said some diamonds mined by the civilians were given to the AFRC. At one point, the AFRC diamond commander fled with over 1,000 diamonds and was never found. Other diamonds were taken to Sam Bockarie. The witness said that during the month he was there, he was twice summoned with other officers to Bockarie's residence to assist in packaging diamonds. After counting the diamonds and putting them in parcels, on both occasions Bockarie called Charles Taylor on the satellite phone. After he told Taylor the number of diamonds, he passed the phone to Jungle, who confirmed the number. Kanneh explained that over a satellite phone it is possible for others in a room to hear the person on the other end. He said he heard Taylor thank Bockarie, and tell him to give the diamonds to Jungle to be brought to him. After both of these conversations, the witness said that Bockarie sent an escort with Jungle to the Liberian town of Foya, from where a helicopter took him to Monrovia.
End of the junta period
After a month in Tongo Field, Kanneh said he was assigned in the rainy season of 1997 to brigade headquarters in Kenema with Bockarie. Kanneh kept defensive operations and was also available for other operations. The witness named a number of other RUF and AFRC commanders who were present in Kenema. He remained in there until the ECOMOG intervention in Freetown dislodged the AFRC/RUF regime in February 1998. As ECOMOG forces were advancing on Kenema from Bo Waterside, the witness withdrew with Bockarie. At Baima, Bockarie promoted Kanneh to Leftenant Colonel and made him a battalion commander. At this time Bockarie was the acting leader of the RUF because Foday Sankoh was in detention.
Account of Bockarie issuing Taylor's orders to the AFRC/RUF
The witness said he remained in Baima until the end of 1999, and that Bockarie moved on to establish a headquarters in Buedu, 40 miles away. However, the witness said he often visited Buedu and saw Bockarie.
Kanneh recalled one eight-hour meeting convened by Bockarie with over 600 RUF commanders and fighters in around June 1998. It was held outside Buedu, in deep forest, out of fear of ECOMOG air raids. Senior commanders present included AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma, Gullit, Jungle, Issa Sesay, Eddie Kanneh, AB, FOC, SYB Rogers, Superman, Morris Kallon, and Akim Turay. According to Kanneh, Bockarie reported that he had just returned from seeing Charles Taylor in Monrovia.
Bockarie stated that Taylor had made decisions and sent messages:
Karmoh Kanneh's testimony continues tomorrow morning at 9:30.
Copyright (c) 2003 Open Society Institute. Reprinted with the permission of the Open Society Institute, 400 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019 USA, www.justiceinitiative.org. or www.soros.org.
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