I think this is a positive development. I however think the
equation is now more complex. Frankly I would have been
happier if the rebel leader was dead at the time of arrest.
Clearly the rebels will now try to use him as a bargaining
chip for the UN peace keepers held hostage. That would
indeed be a distasteful swap!
The other thing is that J C Jackson of a man. I think he
is a bad choice for the job after those comments and also
equating the true freedom fighters of Africa like the ANC
and RUF. It shows how little he understand of Africa's
troubled history.
Asalamu alikum
Mansour
On Wed, 17 May 2000 23:42:00 -0700 "Habib Ghanim, Sr"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 17 May: RUF leader Foday Sankoh, who vanished May 8 after
> his supporters
> opened fire on a crowed of demonstrators in
> front of his home, was captured in Freetown
> early Wednesday morning. "Just before six
> o'clock this morning Foday Sankoh was
> detained by a combined team all working
> together," a police spokesman said. "The
> detention took place in the Spur Road area
> of Freetown. Foday Sankoh was saved from
> an angry crowd and initially taken to
> Cockerell Defence Headquarters for his own safety. He was
> later taken to a safe
> place. He has a leg injury and we do not know how he
> received this. He is
> currently in Sierra Leone police custody and is safe. He is
> receiving the best
> possible medical treatment available for his injury. A
> major police inquiry is
> continuing and more information will be given at a later
> date." BBC correspondent
> Lansana Fofana said the rebel leader, who had been searched
> for throughout the
> capital, had apparently been hiding out in a shack less
> than 150 yards from his
> residence. Another account, published by the London Press
> Association (PA
> News), suggested Sankoh had returned to his house
> accompanied by one man --
> possibly a bodyguard -- after hiding out in the hills. He
> was spotted by a man
> taking his young nephew to Muslim prayers. Witnesses said
> Sankoh asked to be
> taken to the Nigerian High Commission. Instead the man
> alerted soldiers. "There
> was a struggle and, according to some reports, Sankoh drew
> a silver revolver but
> it was empty," PA News said. "He was quickly overpowered
> and shot in the leg
> by a soldier known as 'Scorpion'. The man with Sankoh was
> also shot and was,
> reportedly, close to death." AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma
> confirmed
> Wednesday morning that his men had taken Sankoh into
> custody. "He was
> arrested somewhere behind his house, just by the hills, and
> he was taken to
> Lumley Police Station and then finally brought to me," he
> told the BBC Network
> Africa programme. "It was because my men made the arrest,
> and and they did
> took him to the police station, and they in turn sent him
> to me, and I handed him
> over to the government." Koroma said he did not meet with
> Sankoh, but instead
> attempted to calm the crowd from his veranda. The rebel
> leader was paraded
> naked through the streets of Freetown by Sierra Leone Army
> troops before being
> being taken to Defence Headquarters at Cockerill. From
> there, according to
> Lieutenant-Commander Tony Cramp, spokesman for the British
> forces in Sierra
> Leone, Sankoh was flown in a British helicopter to a
> "secure location" at Lungi
> International Airport, where he is being held by the Sierra
> Leonean authorities in
> what Information Minister Dr. Julius Spencer called
> "protective custody." BBC
> West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle quoted eyewitnesses as
> saying Sankoh
> was put on a stretcher and taken under heavy guard to a
> Royal Air Force
> helicopter.
>
> Information Minister Dr. Julius Spencer said early
> Wednesday that no decision
> had been made on whether to prosecute RUF
> leader Foday
> Sankoh. "It depends on what he does and his
> attitude, that what
> will determine what the government does,"
> Spencer told the BBC
> Network Africa programme. He said the
> government was still
> committed to the peace agreement signed with
> the RUF in
> Lomé, Togo last year. "The government wants
> peace," Spencer
> said. "That has been our position all along. It
> is not in the
> interest of this country for us to go back to
> all-out war. And we
> are trying to avoid that as much as possible. The
> government will do what is
> necessary to ensure that there is peace. If it is
> determined that going along with
> the Lomé Agreement is absolutely useless, then the
> government will take a
> position. But as of now the government’s position is that
> we still believe that the
> Lomé Agreement is viable and we are going to go along with
> that as long as
> possible."
>
> REACTION to Sankoh's capture: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY
> ROBIN
> COOK: "I welcome the news today that the rebel leader Foday
> Sankoh has been
> arrested and is now in detention. This deprives the
> rebellion of its leadership and
> encourages us in the hope that we may be able to stabilize
> Sierra Leone and
> stop the rebel advance...I hope it means that it will
> deprive them of the reason for
> continuing their fight, and encourage them in the view that
> we have actually put
> the rebel advance into reverse and that we are on our way
> to our objective of
> stabilising Sierra Leone and putting the peace process back
> on track."
> REGINALD GOODRIDGE, Spokesman for Liberian President
> Charles Taylor:
> "There is definitely cause for concern...The fact that
> their leader has been
> arrested may throw a stumbling block in the way of the
> release of further
> hostages. Sankoh is a key part of the Lomé accord. It all
> depends on how the
> Sierra Leone government decides to proceed." UNAMSIL FORCE
> COMMANDER
> MAJOR-GENERAL VIJAY KUMAR JETLEY: "Now at least they (the
> RUF) have
> got some sort a leader. Earlier they were doing things in
> isolation..."I think the
> peacekeepers are already being released in Liberia. The
> Liberian president is
> working on that already and many are on the border already,
> The process has
> already started on getting them released." U.S. SECRETARY
> OF STATE
> MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: "Today we had some good news, that
> Foday Sankoh
> has in fact been captured." U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN
> RICHARD
> BOUCHER: "The fact that he was in the peace process was a
> decision of the
> government and the people of Sierra Leone. And the next
> step in either the peace
> process or with him personally is up to them as well. I'm
> not going to push them
> toward one direction or the other." BRITISH DEFENCE
> SECRETARY
> GEOFFREY HOON: "(Whether to release Sankoh) is a matter for
> the government
> of Sierra Leone, but clearly we would prefer that should
> not happen." UNITED
> STATES U.N. AMBASSADOR RICHARD HOLBROOKE: "I think it's a
> positive
> development that he is located and he's in a position where
> he is going to be able
> to be dealt with appropriately, and that he will not be
> able to continue the
> outrageous agreement-breaking ways that he has pursued."
> RUSSIAN U.N.
> AMBASSADOR SERGEY LAVROV: "I think we'd have to reassess
> Lomé given
> all the events, the latest developments." BRITISH U.N.
> AMBASSADOR SIR
> JEREMY GREENSTOCK: "There needs to be, we hope, a
> realization by all sides
> that we must come back to the Lomé Agreement and to a
> political route forward,
> and Foday Sankoh's role in that must be judged by the
> government of Sierra
> Leone and by the U.N." CHINESE U.N. AMBASSADOR WANG
> YINGFAN: (On
> how Sankoh's arrest will impact the U.N. peacekeeping
> mission) "It depends on
> how this development is handled by the government of Sierra
> Leone." SIERRA
> LEONE PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN SEPTIMUS KAIKAI: "A lot of
> these
> things are being sorted out now. Our main concern now is
> that we can...bring
> peace to our country." RUF COMMANDER COL. BAO: "We are
> totally against it.
> We don’t believe the people in the United Nations want
> peace in this country.
> They should not have allowed our leader to be humiliated by
> useless politicians
> like Kabbah and others. That is why we are now trying to
> put our matter across
> ECOWAS, because we know ECOWAS did well by bringing peace
> to this
> country. It is the United Nations and Britain who have
> derailed the whole peace
> process." AFRC LEADER AND CCP CHAIRMAN JOHNNY PAUL KOROMA:
> "I
> think as far as I am concerned I think he should be tried.
> And I particularly when
> he killed civilians who were demonstrating in front of his
> house. I think he has
> something to answer."
>
> The RUF has released 80 more U.N. peacekeepers held by the
> rebel group for
> two weeks, UNAMSIL spokesman David Wimhurst said on
> Wednesday. "Eighty
> more have come to (the Liberian border town of) Foya,"
> Wimhurst said in
> Freetown. He said 44 others, part of the 139 who arrived in
> Foya on Sunday,
> "have arrived from Foya to Monrovia and should return to
> Freetown tonight."
> Wimhurst said 81 Zambians and 14 Kenyans had already
> arrived in Sierra
> Leone's capital.
>
> Libya will send helicopters to help with the evacuation of
> injured UNAMSIL troops
> who have been freed by the RUF and who have arrived in the
> Liberian border town
> of Foya, Libya's JANA news agency reported on Wednesday.
>
> United Nations peacekeepers and Sierra Leone Army troops
> fought a two-hour
> battle with RUF fighters at Port Loko late Tuesday into
> Wednesday, UNAMSIL
> spokesman David Wimhurst told reporters. He said the RUF
> forces attacked
> pro-government positions armed with mortars, light arms and
> rocket-propelled
> grenades. Six Sierra Leonean troops and a Nigerian UNAMSIL
> soldier were killed
> in the attack, and ten others -- five Sierra Leonean
> soldiers and five U.N.
> peacekeepers -- were wounded. A U.N. spokesman in New York
> said the attack
> on Port Loko involved about 500 RUF troops. "In the end the
> attack, which was a
> serious one, was repelled," he said. Wimhurst said Port
> Loko was reported calm
> Wednesday afternoon.
>
> ECOWAS nation defence ministers and chiefs of staff meeting
> Wednesday in
> Abuja, Nigeria have agreed to send additional troops to
> Sierra Leone under a
> changed UNAMSIL command structure, a high-ranking Nigerian
> military officer
> told the Agency France-Presse (AFP). "There was a general
> consensus that the
> countries present would contribute more troops," he said.
> "It was agreed they
> would go in under UNAMSIL, if funding and a changed command
> structure are
> agreed with the U.N...It was agreed the command structure
> must reflect the
> country with the preponderance of troops." Nigeria, with
> four battalions in Sierra
> Leone, is currently the largest contributor of troops to
> the UNAMSIL force.
>
> Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. President Bill Clinton's Special
> Envoy for the
> Promotion of Democracy in Africa, was scheduled to leave
> Wednesday for Nigeria, which is considering deploying
> additional
> troops in Sierra Leone. Jackson's mission was delayed by
> one
> day while he sought to clarify remarks he made to reporters
> last
> week which upset the Sierra Leone government and infuriated
>
> civil society groups. Jackson suggested that Sankoh needed
> to
> be coaxed back into the political process, that Sankoh's
> voice
> "would be a very positive one," and that all parties in
> Sierra
> Leone had blood on their hands. On Monday Jackson
> "clarified" his position to
> say that " Foday Sankoh and the RUF alone are responsible
> for the current crisis
> in Sierra Leone." After Nigeria, Jackson will visit
> Liberia, Mali, Guinea, and Sierra
> Leone, security conditions permitting, according to State
> Department Spokesman
> Richard Boucher. Boucher said Jackson's mission would be to
> consult with
> regional government on how the U.S. could support their
> efforts to resolve the
> Sierra Leone crisis and to bring about the release of some
> 350 U.N. personnel
> detained by RUF forces. Jackson will be accompanied on his
> West African visit
> by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, Deputy Assistance Secretary
> of State for
> African Affairs, and State Department staff.
>
> British paratroopers clashed with rebels at Lungi Loi early
> Wednesday morning,
> near Lungi International Airport. Four of the were reported
> killed in the exchange
> of fire. "We believe a force of 40 rebels came down the
> road towards the
> Parachute Regiment position," British military spokesman
> Lieutenant-Commander Tony Cramp told reporters. "There was
> an engagement
> lasting approximately ten minutes, after which the rebels
> fled." Another British
> officer, Captain Cameron Jack of the First Battalion
> Parachute Regiment, said
> four rebels were killed and a woman civilian wounded in the
> shootout. "Twenty-five
> pathfinders in the platoon were attacked by 40 RUF at 0045
> this morning and
> they responded for ten minutes," Jack said.
>
> Human Rights Watch called on the Sierra Leone government
> Wednesday to
> ensure that RUF leader Foday Sankoh received a fair trial
> for what it called "his
> crimes." The human rights group said that extensive
> evidence had been compiled
> on crimes against humanity carried out Sankoh's followers.
> "But that evidence
> should be carefully compiled and presented in a court of
> law. Sankoh should be
> informed of the specific charges against him as soon as
> possible, according to
> fair trial standards," the groups said in a press
> statement. The Sierra Leone
> government has not yet said whether it would seek to put
> the RUF leader on trial,
> and said Wednesday that Sankoh is being held in protective
> custody. "There is a
> good case against (Sankoh), but it must be presented
> soberly and carefully,
> before impartial judges," Peter Takirambudde, Executive
> Director of Human
> Rights Watch's Africa Division as quoted as saying.
> "Otherwise, the cycle of
> violence in Sierra Leone will only continue." Takirambudde
> suggested that the
> capacity of the Sierra Leonean judiciary was in question
> and that the possibility of
> an international tribunal should be considered. "At the
> core of the crisis in Sierra
> Leone is the question of impunity," Takirambudde said in
> the statement. "If the
> international community can send investigative teams into
> Kosovo to document
> war crimes, it should be prepared to do the same for Sierra
> Leone. The
> perpetrators of abuse must be held accountable."
>
> Following the arrest Wednesday of RUF leader Foday Sankoh,
> Amnesty
> International repeated its call "for all those
> responsible of
> committing human rights abuses to be brought to
> justice." The
> human rights group has opposed a blanket amnesty
> for war crimes
> committed during the country's civil conflict
> "because it violated
> international law and failed to address the gross
> human rights
> abuses, including war crimes and crimes against
> humanity,
> committed during the conflict," Amnesty said in a
> statement. The
> statement argued that the RUF had failed to live up to the
> provisions of the Lomé
> Peace Accord. "Neither RUF members nor anyone else should
> continue to
> benefit from the amnesty in that agreement," Amnesty said.
> "The killings,
> mutilations, rape and abductions which continued after the
> amnesty are, in any
> case, not covered by the amnesty and those responsible must
> be brought to
> justice." Even if the blanket amnesty were not annulled by
> the Sierra Leone
> government, the statement said, the international community
> should move to
> bring those responsible for serious violations of human
> rights or international
> humanitarian law to justice. "Any state may request the
> extradition of suspected
> perpetrators of human rights abuses for trial in its own
> courts," Amnesty said. "If
> the Sierra Leone government does not submit the cases of
> such suspects to its
> own courts, it must nevertheless comply with any
> extradition request."
>
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Mansour Ceesay
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