14 May 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
Into Liberia
Blah said that from Libya, the troops returned to Ougadougou. They did not take weapons or ammunition with them, but were told that Libya would provide these. The NPFL fighters stayed in Burkina Faso for another year, but were getting restless and had to be relocated to Ivory Coast. There, they stayed in ethnic Gio and Mano areas close to the Liberian border. Blah said that Taylor sent him back to Libya to wait for weapons to transport to the NPFL. Blah was in Libya when he heard from the Libyans that Taylor had not waited for the weapons shipment, but had invaded Liberia with shotguns and machetes on December 24, 1989. The Libyans were unhappy about it, Blah said, because they were under pressure from American sanctions and had wanted to launch the invasion tactically.
Blah returned to Burkina Faso, and Taylor sent him to Abidjan, Ivory Coast. There, Blah said that he met with the country's defense minister, who had a consignment of arms and ammunition for the NPFL. However, the defense minister said that he didn't want to use army trucks for their transport. While waiting for civilian trucks to be arranged, Blah came to the NPFL's first camp in Liberia, Gborpleh, and was promptly arrested by Small Boy Units. They accused him of sending weapons to Prince Johnson, an NPFL member who had split away and formed the Independent NPFL.
Blah testified that the small boys with the NPFL were 13-15 years old or younger, and said that they were unreasonable and aggressive. He said some had volunteered, while others had been captured by the NPFL. Blah said that Benjamin Yeaten had actually conducted the arrest. Yeaten had been a 14 or 15-year old in the Libyan camp and had impressed Taylor with his physical fitness, hard work, and aggressiveness. Blah remained in detention for about a week. Taylor returned from Abidjan, where the Ivorian defense minister told him how loyal Blah had been, and released Blah from custody. Taylor ordered Blah back to Abidjan to bring the trucks filled with arms and ammunition.
Blah describes brutality, cannibalism among Taylor's forces
During 1990, Blah said that the NPFL took about 90% of Liberia, and continued to fight Prince Johnson's NPFL. In that year, he said, Taylor appointed him as Inspector General of the NPFL. Blah was responsible for the investigation of illegal acts carried out by NPFL fighters against civilians, including killings, rapes, and looting. Blah recounted a few occasions when punishments had been carried out against soldiers and said he had been present for one execution, but said that only Taylor had the authority to order punishments.
Blah said that there were NPFL people whom he was not allowed to investigate. These included Taylor's Executive Mansion Guard unit. Blah said that he received many reports of the commander of that unit, Cassius Jacob, executing and abusing civilians at checkpoints. Further, Blah testified that he had seen a man named Nelson Gaye who was attached to the unit as head of the Marine Unit eating roasted human hands. In addition to this incident, Blah said he heard of another incident involving Gaye where he had eaten the intestines of a farmer, cooked together with the man's own cassava harvest. Blah said that Gaye had not been a member of the guard unit at the time, but "at that time you wouldn't join that unit if you do not eat human beings." Blah said he was reluctant to complain to Taylor about these reports. When Rapp asked why he was reluctant, Blah responded that it would have been seen as an attack on the Executive Mansion Guard unit.
Asked to describe Taylor's relationship with Benjamin Yeaten, Blah said that Taylor had made him his bodyguard. Blah said that he himself had been friendly with Yeaten, but that later when Yeaten became more powerful, he no longer respected Blah, and Blah kept his distance.
NPFL atrocities in Sierra Leone and Taylor's indifference
Blah testified that in 1991, he learned that the NPFL had fighters in Sierra Leone, where they initially outnumbered members of Foday Sankoh's RUF. Blah recalled speaking with Sankoh in Gbarnga after the fighting in Sierra Leone began. He said Sankoh complained that the NPFL soldiers were committing a lot of atrocities in Sierra Leone: raping women, killing people and looting, and that this was leading to a loss of respect for him among his people. Sankoh had come to discuss this problem with Taylor. Blah said he spoke with Sankoh again after he had met with Taylor, and that Sankoh had not been satisfied with the meeting.
Prosecutor Rapp asked Blah whether he discussed Sankoh's complaint with Taylor. Blah said that it wasn't much of a conversation, but that in Gbarnga, Taylor complained to him about Sankoh, saying, "This type of thing happens in war. You are not eating bread and butter. You are fighting." This direct evidence of Taylor's knowledge of atrocities committed by his forces and refusal to do anything about it falls outside the timeframe of the 1996-2002 temporal jurisdiction of the Special Court and his indictment. However, it may serve to support the credibility of similar allegations against him that do fall within the scope of the indictment.
Blah testified that throughout the conflict, from the early days when he was headquartered in Gbarnga through his presidency in Monrovia, Taylor constantly listened to BBC news on the radio and watched CNN News on the satellite television. This is important to the prosecution effort to prove that Taylor was aware of reports of atrocities being committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone, whom the prosecution alleges were under Taylor's command.
Blah becomes ambassador, then vice president
Blah said that Taylor appointed him to serve as a liaison between the NPFL and ECOMOG, but that this had lasted for less than a month. In 1997, Blah said he played a role in Taylor's presidential election campaign. He said their main slogan for the campaign had been "You killed my mother, you killed my father. I'll still vote for you."
After Taylor's victory, he appointed Blah as ambassador to Libya and Tunisia. Blah said that he had met with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on several occasions. Gaddafi gave Taylor a bulletproof Mercedes jeep, crude oil to provide money for military hardware and uniforms, and on one occasion, half a million dollars. However, Blah said that Taylor grew impatient with Gaddafi's many promises and frequent failures to deliver. Blah said that in turn, Gaddafi was not happy with Taylor because he was not implementing the revolution but just looting the state. Blah remained ambassador to Libya and Tunisia or three years, until 2000, but remained in Liberia for most of his posting.
Taylor appointed Blah as vice president in 2000, following the death of the incumbent. Asked whether Benjamin Yeaten had a position in Taylor's government, Blah said Taylor appointed Yeaten as the director of the Special Security Service (SSS) and a battalion commander of the "Jungle Fire Unit". He said that Yeaten was immensely powerful in Liberia, more powerful than cabinet ministers or even himself when he was vice president. Only Taylor was more powerful, Blah said. The only other member of the Jungle Fire unit that Blah could name was "Zigzag" Marzah. He said that Yeaten's deputies in the SSS had been Joe Montgomery and Joe Tuah.
Blah said that he had gone with Tuah to visit Burkinabe president Blaise Compoare at one point in order to rekindle a strained relationship between Taylor and Compoare. While there, they saw Taylor associates Musa Cisse and Grace Minor in the hotel, and they said they were also there to see Compoare. Blah said he returned to Monrovia on an airplane full of arms and ammunition that had Russian writing on the boxes.
Moses Blah'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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