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Concord Times (Freetown)

Sierra Leone: Witness Links Charles Taylor to RUF's Issa Sesay

Olusegun Ogundeji

4 September 2008

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Foday Sankoh gave his blessings to Issa Sesay to take over the leadership of the RUF and told him to take all orders from Charles Taylor, says witness TF1-338 yesterday while being examined by prosecution counsel Brenda Hollis.

TF1-338 testified using voice and facial distortion and there were closed/private sessions when necessary.

Before the court adjourned on Monday, the witness stated that Issa Sesay had traveled to Liberia to meet with Charles Taylor immediately he took command of the RUF after Sankoh was arrested in May 2000. At this meeting, Taylor asked to know why Sankoh was arrested and someone who was present in Freetown when Sankoh was arrested gave an explanation.

On the invitation of Charles Taylor, Issa made another trip to Liberia in 2000 where the RUF delegation met with four West African heads of state namely Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, late Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, Yayah Jammeh of The Gambia and Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali.Witness TF1-338 said Taylor told them that they were supposed to discuss the change of leadership in the RUF at the meeting and he hinged the necessity on the fact that Sankoh was now old and was already under arrest. The witness added that Obasanjo too, addressed the delegation and told them to maintain a good relationship with Charles Taylor as he is a very good leader and if there are ten other heads of state like him (Taylor), Africa will be a better continent.But after the meeting, the witness said Taylor had a separate meeting with the RUF delegation between 11:00pm to 12:00 midnight. It was in that meeting that Taylor told them they should not be moved by the suggestions of the ECOWAS heads of state as they were British-elected presidents and were remote controlled by the western powers. He said Taylor told them not to take what the heads of states said and that they should refuse if they were asked to disarm. Taylor told Issa Sesay to work to keep the revolution together and assured them of his support. The witness said Taylor later gave Issa Sesay $15,000.The witness also narrated how diamonds were moved from Sierra Leone to Liberia.

He said that on several occasions, Issa took diamonds to Taylor. He cited that the first time Issa took diamonds to Taylor, the former Liberian president told him he was going to keep the diamonds and hand them over to Sankoh upon his release. He said it was that time that Issa told Taylor that they (RUF) were being disturbed by Kamajors and UN peacekeepers so while returning to Sierra Leone, they took along arms and ammunition and other materials for the RUF. The witness added that in early 2001, Issa took another set of diamonds to Taylor and he returned with arms and ammunition for the RUF.In April/May 2001, when Issa took another set of diamonds to Liberia, Taylor cautioned him not to be traveling with diamonds to Liberia regularly because the UN were monitoring his relationship with the RUF. So Taylor devised a means of getting someone who will be getting the diamonds from the RUF and, in return, provide materials for them.The witness said that during this visit, Benjamin Yeaten introduced two Belgians to Issa. T

hough the witness said one of the Belgians introduced himself as Alpha Bravo, Issa identified the two of them as people who once traveled to Kono with Sam Bockarie. Issa gave some diamonds to Alpha Bravo who, in turn, gave him $300,000 of which Issa gave $150,000 to Taylor for safe keeping and took the remaining $150,000 to Sierra Leone, the witnessed said.The witness mentioned that during a meeting between Taylor and Issa in Liberia, they discussed the release of UN peacekeepers that were held hostage. He said Taylor told Issa that he (Taylor) had been promised ECOWAS chairmanship if he can secure the release of the peacekeepers. And in that capacity, he will be able to offer more help to the RUF.So after the meeting, Issa called other RUF commanders in Sierra Leone via radio set and asked them to take the Zambian peacekeepers to Manowa Crossing Point from where they were taken to Liberia and handed over to Taylor.At another point in time, during one of Issa Sesay's visits to Liberia, the witness said that Issa said he told Taylor that the UN peacekeepers had spoken to him about the disarmament of child soldiers but Taylor told him not to allow the RUF to be disarmed.

He said Taylor told them that if they disarmed, they would be arrested later. On his return to Sierra Leone, the witness said Issa told other commanders that he was not going to take Taylor's advice and that he was going ahead to cooperate with the UN and disarm.When the defence counsel asked to know the basis of the witness' knowledge of these events, whether they were based on hearsay or direct evidence, prosecution counsel explained that the basis of his knowledge will be determined without disclosing the witness' identity at some point in the course of his testimony.At a point, prosecution made an application to continue the examination of the witness in private session as the questions she intended to ask will identify the witness. Application was granted and the court went into private session.

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