The monitors of former President Charles Taylor's trial report for www.charlestaylortrial.org

RUF Commander Continues Testimony

The trial opened this morning by dealing with preliminary motions.  After that, the Prosecution witness, RUF insider, Mustapha Marvin Mansaray, 36, continued his testimony from yesterday.  As he sat, wearing a white T-shirt under a grey button-down dress shirt, he looked calm throughout the first session’s testimony.  He did not seem to suffer from the same watery eyes and nose as he did during yesterday’s testimony.  Charles Taylor also sat calmly throughout the testimony, at times taking notes.

The following is a rough sketch of the testimony, intended to give an overview of proceedings, but should be checked against the official transcript for accuracy.

Pros: When we left off yesterday, you said Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay would sell kola nuts and coffee to buy arms and ammunition. How did Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay get these items?

Wit: From the plantations in Kailahun. There Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay got the coffee, cocoa and kola nut.

Pros: Who did the plantations belong to?

Wit: People from the Kailahun district. The war took me there - the civilians were residing in those areas before the war. They were those who cultivated the crops owned them.

Pros: How did Sam Bockerie and Issa Sesay take the items?

Wit: They would tell the G5 and the G5 would tell the chief commander,  section commander and town commander. These commanders were civilians so when Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay told this to the G5, the commanders said they would tax the people according to the number of people who reside in the town, to give coffee, cocoa and kola nut. When they received that information, they would give the information to Issa  Sesay and Sam Bockarie. They received those items from the civilians.

Pros: Did the civilians give these items voluntarily?

Wit: No. It was not like that. A command was given for those people to give those items to the RUF movement, so some people grumbled to produce those items, but still they would do that.

Pros: Was there ever a situation in Boidu when civilians refused to comply with these instructions?

Wit: Yes it did happen in some villages where civilians were reluctant to give their coffee, cocoa and kola nuts.

Pros: Did anything happen to those civilians?

Wit: The areas where civilians had refused to give those items were forced to do so. If they continued to refuse, some of those civilians were held in a guard room. Later they were released and it was  made sure that they gave the right amount.

Pros: Where in Boidu did this happen? (Rephrase after discussion with defense and bench) - Where in Kailahun district?

Wit: This happened in Boidu when a document came out produced by Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay. It happened around villages around Boidu. It happened in Kangamou (sp?) - people refused to give coffee, cocoa and kola to RUF. There are other villages but I’ve forgotten the names. Later when I left Boidu and went to Kailahun town, and it happened in a village called Kollah Boama.

Pros: Do you know what happened to civilians in Kangamou (Sp?) who refused to give their produce?

Wit: At the time I was in Boidu as the area IDU commander. There were those who refused to give the coffee, cocoa and kola nut.  The bodyguard for Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay went to Kangama. The coffee, cocoa and kola nut that was discovered in the houses of civilians or even a fighter having it in his house, were taken from them and taken to the business site where RUF and the Guinean people were doing business. That is what I know.

Pros: Apart from taking items from the house, did anything else happen to these civilians?

Wit: At the time, civilians who had wanted to stand against that would be flogged and the property taken from them. Besides beating, I don’t know about any other thing that happened to them. The bodyguards of Issa Sesay and Sam Bockarie would beat them.

Pros: Did you do anything about this as IDU area commander?

Wit: I used to give the information to the District IDU commander, who was in Boidu. His name was Frances Musa. The deputy district IDU commander was Shaku Coomber.

Pros: Did anything happen after you reported this to Francis Musa?

Wit: No.

Pros: Did RUF take any action for this conduct?

Wit: No.

Pros: You testified yesterday that between June 1997 to February 1998 that you were based in Zumi Makpele. Who were you reporting to?

Wit: I reported directly to Augustine Gbao, the overall IDU commander and the chief security officer.

Pros: Want to take you back - who was the G5 commander in Kailahun when you were in Boidu?

Wit: The G5 commander that was in Kailahun was Morie Fieka.

Pros: When in Zumi Makpele, you reported to Gbao. Where was he based?

Wit: Kenema Town.

Pros: Where was Sam Bockarie based?

Wit: Kenema town.

Pros: How do you know that?

Wit: There was a time that I came and passed a night with him in the area where he was. I came from Zumi and passed the night in the house where he was. His house was at when you are leaving Kenema to go to Blama. There was a highway on the lefthand side leaving for Blama.

Pros: When you went to visit Sam Bockarie in Kenema for one night, do you recall of you met anyone there?

Def: Can we be more specific when this is?

Pros: Can you say when it was you visited Sam Bockarie in Kenema?

Wit: That time it was in 1997 August. Not only once - I went there more than one time.

Pros: When visited Bockarie in 1997, can you recall other people you met there?

Wit: Yes. He was residing with Sam Bockarie — the time I went there, I saw somebody whose name was Jungle at the house. I also saw Junior Vande (other name is JR). I was there when Mike Lamming (Sp?) arrived there. There were some other people who were junior fighters. Sam Bockarie’s wife was there as well.

Pros: Said you went to visit Sam Bockarie in Kenema town more than once - on how many occasions did you meet the people you named?

Wit: The other visits I made to Bockarie in Kenema, the person I did not meet all the time was Mike Lamming (sp?). The house divided into apartments, Jungle was living in one apartment and Bockarie in another. I knew Jungle.  I knew him as one of the fighters. He was from Liberia. He was a fighter for the NPFL.

Pros: How do you know Jungle?

Wit: I knew Jungle at Zoguda. Met him there with Foday Sankoh. I met him there and knew him. The information I had about him when I met him - he was one of the persons Foday Sankoh would send from RUF territories to Liberia and to Guinea.

Pros: For what purpose?

Wit: The way I understood it, he was somebody whom Foday Sankoh would send for us to get arms and ammunition. He used to go to Guinea to get food items for the RUF.

Pros: How did you know this?

Wit: When Foday Sankoh called me, I would sit very close to him and discuss some of those issues. I was able to gather information. Because myself -  Foday Sankoh considered me an experienced person, so when I visited him I would sit close to him, so that is how I got the information about the movement of Jungle.

Pros: Where in Liberia was Jungle getting arms and ammunition from?

Wit: I wouldn’t say because I was not travelling with him.

Pros: You told the court between March and December 1998 you were based in Kuiva in Kailahun district as Second battalion IDU commander. Who were you reporting to there?

Wit: I reported to First Brigade IDU Commander. His name was John Ngevoa.

Pros: What was your assignment as Second Battalion IDU Commander?

Wit: Give reports about crimes committed by RUF against civilians or civilians committing crimes, as long as find yourself in RUF territories, it was my duty to take statements and investigate.

Pros: During time in Kuiva, did anything happen to civilians?

Wit: For us to be based in Kuiva, we met civilians there. They were forced to move out from there, and we established a battalion headquarters there. Some civilians lost their lives and properties. Some of them were killed by RUF and AFRC fighters with a gun. It was in the evening that we entered there, so people were finding houses to stay. That evening, everything was in disarray. The following morning there were dead corpses around the town.

Pros: How did the civilians lose their properties?

Wit: Some had gone to the bush and they were unable to enter their houses when they came back as RUF and AFRC had forcefully taken the houses away from them.

Pros: Did you take any action for this in your position?

Wit: Yes. I compiled a report of that in my weekly and monthly reports, and sent to Brigade IDU commander. No action was taken against those people who committed crimes against the civilians.

Pros: At this time where was Augustine Gbao?

Wit: Kailahun town. He was aware of what took place in Kuiva.

Pros: How do you know he was aware?

Wit: Besides the report I sent, I also met him and explained the situation in Kuiva with the civilians.

Pros: What was his reaction?

Wit: He didn’t do anything.

Pros: During your time based in Kuiva, do you know if anything happened in Kailahun Town?

Wit: I learned that during the AFRC time in 1998 some civilians who had come from Guinea, Liberia and ??? area, came to Kailahun town and surrounding villages. They had returned there and Bockarie gave an order that those civilians should be jailed.

Pros: Do you know why he gave that order?

Wit: When I came I enquired from my commander, Augustine Gbao. He said Sam Bockarie had placed people in the cell because they were suspected to be Komojors.

Pros: When did this happen?

Wit: That was around the third week of March to April 1998.

Pros: How many people were jailed by Sam Bockarie?

Wit: I don’t know the exact number but there were more than 20.

Pros: Did anything happen to these people who were suspected to be Komojors?

Wit: Sam Bockarie killed those people without investigating them.

Pros: How do you know that?

Wit: Well, just after he had killed those people, when he returned to Kailahun, between 3-5 days I visited my relatives in Kailahun Town. I went there on a pass. The people Sam Bockarie had killed 3-5 days before hand, I got the smell, the odor when I was passing. But when I went there, I heard it from radio communication, Sam Bockarie and his bodyguards had taken civilians from the guard room and killed them. I went and met my former commander Augustine Gbao. I asked him if he knew about the killing of the people. Augustine Gbao said yes, he knew.

Pros: When you went to Kailahun and saw the bodies, where was Sam Bockarie? When you told the court that you went to Kailahun town and smelt some odor, what was that odor?

Wit: It was the odor of the corpses that Sam Bockarie had killed.

PRos: How do you know that was the odor?

Wit: The scent everybody knew the place where the killing took place. It was easy for people to know.

Pros: How do you know?

Wit: In the morning when I was passing, I saw the flies hovering around the corpses, There was nothing else around there - the odor was from the corpses.

Pros: Did you see the corpses?

Wit: I saw the corpses from afar but didn’t go close to them?

Pros: At this time do you know where Sam Bockarie was?

Wit: I heard he had gone to Boidu.

Pros: Did you hear if he went anywhere else after Boidu?

With: I heard he had left Boidu and gone elsewhere.

Pros: Do you know where he went?

Def: There is so much hearsay coming through the witnesses. Prosecution needs to lead in the proper manner making it clear witness had heard something rather than direct knowledge.

Judge Doherty: The court depends entirely on the information that comes from the witness. Where he has knowledge it must be established where he got that knowledge.

Pros: You testified that you had learned that he had left Boidu and gone elsewhere. Where did you learn that?

Wit: The second battalion commander, I visited the radio communication office. The two radio comms operators showed me the radio log bog, and told me that Sam Bockarie had left Boidu to Liberia. I read the message myself. It said that Charles Taylor had sent one of his commanders to get Bockarie s o thatthey could meet in Liberia. That is how I knew he left Boidu to Liberia, through the operators.

Pros: Do you know if he knew anything about these killings?

Wit: He did not do anything else. he did not take any action.

Pros: You told the court you were based in ??? Dec 1998 to March/April 1999. Who were you reporting to?

Wit: I reported directly to Francis Musa.

Pros: Who was Francis Musa reporting to?

Wit: He reported directly to Augustine Gbao.

Pros: How did you know that Musa reported to Gbao?

Wit: At that time he was the defense IDU commander, so he reported directly to Gbao.

Pros: How do you know that?

Wit: Musa came and met me in Shagwema(??) - he let me understand that he was the defense IDU commander. He even gave me reports to take to Gbao, which I did.

Pros: What was Francis Musa’s position in Shagwema?

Wit: He just paid a visit to Shegwema. But he was based in Boidu as Defense IDU commander.

Pros: What were your responsibilities as IDU commander when you were based in shegwema (sp)?

Wit: My duties in Segwema as IDU commander was to report on crimes against the people, human rights abuses by any junior or senior officers it was my duty to write reports about that, send the report and inform senior commanders to me.

Pros: What kind of people are you talking about?

Wit: If RUF/AFRC fighter committed a crime against a civilian it was my duty to write a report, even between fighters themselves. If a commander committed a crime, it was my duty to write a report to the immediate commander in charge?

Pros: Did anything happen to civilians in Shegwema?

Wit: When we captured Shgwema in 2-3 weeks time, an RUF fighter killed civilians in Shegwema. Then I wrote a report about him and sent it to the Defense IDU Commander, Francis Musa, and he received the report.

Pros: Did an RUF fighter kill civilians in Shegwema?

Wit: In Shegwema, myself and that particular fighter were living close to each other. I went out of the house and when I returned home, the fighter had just killed the civilians and his bodyguards were with him. His name was Alhiji (??) Putmore.

Pros: How many civilians did he kill?

Wit: More than 25.

Pros: When you returned home, you saw he had killed the civilians - please continue from there.

Wit: I met him having the gun in his hand and I saw the corpses on the ground. And I asked him “Putmore, why have you killed these civilians?” He told me to get out of his sight. He said “those were komojors.” I said we had captured town and lived with these people for 1-2 weeks. I said “those people are innocent people that you killed.” He said if I kept on saying same thing, he would do something bad to me, because I was IDU personnel who was just there to write about them. So I stopped the argument and wrote the report against him and sent him to Francis Musa, a nd included the names of the bodyguard too. Francis Musa met me in Shegwema and told me he had received the report.

Pros: Was any action taken against them?

Wit: I didn’t see any action taken against him.

Pros: Was Augustine Gbao made aware of these killings in Shegwema?

Pros: Do you know if the killings were reported to Augustine Gbao?

Wit: yes.

Pros: How do you know if it was reported?

Wit: The same report I gave to Francis Musa, he in turn made some other report and gave them to me to be taken to Augustine Gbao in Makeni. I took the reports to Augustine Gbao myself.

Pros: Do you know if Gbao looked at the reports you gave him.

Wit: Yes he read it as I gave him the reports, I was there when he read the report.s

Pros: What do you mean that Francis Musa made other reports?

Wit: When he was at the defense office, he compiled reports and gave them to me to take to Gbao.

Pros: did you see the content of the reports you were carrying to Augustine Gbao?

Wit: The one that Francis Musa gave to me. We read it the two of us and he closed it.

Pros: When you say he gave it to me to be taken to him who do you mean?

Wit: Francis Musa gave me the reports to give to Augustine Gbao.

Pros: What else did the reports contain besides the killing of civiilans?

Wit: the other report from Musa concerned Sam Bockerie’s travel from Boidu to Liberia, and the ammunition he brought from Liberia.

Pros: Did the report state where in Liberia this ammunition was coming from?

Wit: according to the report it was stated that the trips that Sam Bockarie made to ex president Charles Taylor, the ammunitions that was given to him was in the reports that were given to me to be taken to Gbao.

Pros: When based in Shagwema, do you know if anything happened to civilians in Kono.

Wit: I got information about bad things that happened to civilians in Kono distrinct

Pros: Where did you get this info from?

Wit: I rtravelled to Makeni, and I passed the night in xxx and met Augustine Gbao in Makeni.

POros: So where get info that bad things happeend to

WitL athte joint security office when I visited my comrades. I got the info from them,

Pros> what were the bad things they told you that happened in Kono?

Wit: The time we drove from areas liek Freetown to jungle, the civilians who were kulled and amputated, and when ECOMOG took over the place, and the kilings and amputations were explained. Many people were killed innocently in Kono and amputations in Kono.

Pros: When withdraw from Freetown - what time?

Wit: 2ns week of February 1998. We withdrew from Freetown.

Pros: Who are we?

Wit: the RUF of SL fighters, and the AFRC fighters.

Pros: When you say right up to the time we went to the jungle, what jungle are you tlaking about? ‘

Wit: The RUF and AFRC jungle.

Pros: When you say the civilians who were killed were amputatie,d where were they killed and amputated?

Wit: They were my comrades atht eh joint security briefed me about amputations at Timbodu. and also the highway leading to JamaSoife.

Pros: When you say civilans killed innocently what do you mean?

Wit: what my coolaeges in joint security told me - that was when a fighter meet a cilvliian and killed them whether there was no enemy there, and if civilan had xxx or money, take that from them.

Pros: who was kililng civilans?

‘Wit: The killling and amputations were perpetratred by RUF and AFRC fighters. BUt for the amputation, when I was at the joint security office, my colleagues told me two people’s name were more notorious with amputations: savage - one of the commanders doing the amputations in the Komadu area. and anotehr lady called Adama KOtan

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Pros: What did you do?

Wit: I met with Aguustine Gbao, I explained to him that those are the pieces of info that I had go from my joint security personnel t at Kokema. Gbao told me he had got the same inforation.

Pros: what action was taken for hte killing and amputation in these areas?

Wit: No action was taken against anybody.

Pros: How do you know that?

Wit: I was a member of the joint security. If any action was taken against anybody, I would have known. But htat did not happen. No fighter was rbought to joint security office at Boidu, Kono or Makeni for things being done against civilians who were killed or amputations. I did not see any figher arressted for htat.

Pros: You told court that in APril 1999 you were based in Makeni as an IDU personnel. Who were you reporting to in Makeni?

Wit: Augustine Gbao.

Pros: What were your duties in Makeni?

Wit: Report crimes against civilians. or crimes committed by a fighter against anotehr fightrer, or any crime committed that was against the rule and regulaions of RUF,

Pros: While you were based in Makeni, did annything happen?>

Wit: yes. there was infighting between RUF and AFRC. that is Denis MIngo and Gibril Massaquoi. Sam BOckarie. Divided into two groups. One of the groups was the RUF and AFRC fighters, was Bockarie, Sesay, Kallon wa sone group. Dennis Mingo and Massaquoi was the other group which fought against each other.

Pros: Did you leave Makeni at some point?

Wit: Yes. the infighting that took place amde me leave Makeni and came to Maborka.

Pros: Why did it make you leave Makeni?

Wit: I was afraid because we knew one another, we had stayed long togehter, and had taken arms togehter, so left Makeni for Mabroka.

Pros.: How did you know arms were going to be taken against each other.

Wit: the two groups were attacking each otehr. The had the fighting forces and were attacking each other.

Pros: Did you attend any muster parade in Makeni?

Wit: I did not attend a mustsere parade in Makeni.

Pros: Did you attend any meetings?

Wit: No.

Prost: Even if not in Makeni, but durting the time you were based there as ISU personnel?

Wit: A muster aprade, held near the government hosopital in Mabroka town.

ProsL: When was this held?

Wit: 1999 around April. hat was when we had the muster parade in Mabroka.

Pros: What happened during the muster parade in Mabroka?

Wit: During the muster parade, I saw two senior RUF officer,s — Morris Kallon and Sam sankolah — saw him with a anti-aircraft gun, and had arms and ammunition in a vehicle. he told Kallon that Bockeriehad sent those materials, he had brought them from LIberia to go and fight against Dennis MIgo and othes.

Adjourned and set to resume at noon.

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