SIERRA LEONE: SIERRA LEONANS CHOOSE THE BALLOT OVER THE BULLET

Unsurprisingly the pattern of events which have unfolded since the outcome of national elections in Sierra Leone became known have followed a rather rancorous and familiar path. Last week’s re-election of President Ernest Bai Koroma has drawn the ire of leading figures from the country’s main opposition party who claim that the elections were flawed and rigged in favour of the incumbent. Koroma, who campaigned on the joint headers of fighting corruption and attracting investment to the country, will now serve a second term in office following his 2007 victory.

Koroma’s All People’s Congress were said to have garnered 58.7 percent of the popular vote thereby surpassing the 55 percent threshold required to claim a first round victory. The opposition party’s Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) questioned the validity of elections which international observers have acknowledged as being free and fair. Bio averred that the credibility of the results had been undermined by “systemic and widespread irregularities, malpractices and injustices”.

The SLPP and Bio will meet difficulties in attempting to convince anyone but their own supporters that the elections were marred by irregularities. For one, international observers including a European Union observer mission stationed in the country during the elections have had no reasons, as far as is known, to question the polls’ credibility. The EU’s presence was supplemented by observer missions from the Commonwealth, the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU). Further, a recount of a cross-section of the votes cast and conducted by the country’s electoral commission following the aforementioned claims of voter irregularity revealed that only a handful of the sample had been ‘contaminated’ and that the numbers of ‘contaminated’ votes were insufficient in number and scale to necessitate the annulment of the election results.

If the results of this third democratic election stand, it would signal immense progress since the end of the country’s 11-year civil war between 1991 and 2002. That unsavoury period of the country’s existence saw Sierra Leone serve as venue against the background of the commission of grave breaches of human rights and war crimes. The conflict was famous for the use of ‘blood diamonds’ by rebel soldiers to acquire ammunition, the deplorable use of child soldiers and the scores of innocent civilians now living with amputated limbs, amputation being the rebel fighters’ favoured means of intimidation and punishment. Hopes however abound that the recent elections will serve as the impetus which the country needs in order to realise the potential which the wealth of natural resources it possesses could only fuel or propel. Encouragingly early indications reveal a country so haunted by its past that its people, regardless of ethnic or political affiliation, are intent on steering its path far away from the history it attempts to dissociate therefrom.

SIERRA LEONE: JUSTICE FINALLY CATCHES UP WITH THE WARLORD CHARLES TAYLOR

The long running saga otherwise known as the trial of the former Liberian warlord and President Charles Taylor culminated in a verdict which many anticipated since the commencement of proceedings five years ago. Last week the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague concluded that Taylor had aided and abetted war crimes committed by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during the course of the Sierra Leone civil war between 1991 and 2002.


Taylor's Charge Sheet

Taylor was convicted of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The specific charges made by prosecutors against Taylor included acts of terrorism, murder, violence to life, murder, rape, sexual slavery and violence, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, other inhumane acts, use of child soldiers, enslavement and pillage. Taylor is expected to be sentenced later in May of this year although one anticipates an appeal from the ever indignant defendant who continues to maintain his innocence.

The court also ruled that Taylor, 64, had provided weapons, food, medical supplies, fuel and equipment to rebels in Sierra Leone who were directly responsible for committing the crimes on the ground. Perhaps, of surprise to observers was the finding by the trial chamber, of course conveyed by its Presiding Judge, Richard Lussick, that Taylor did not instigate the crimes. In return for the arms and ammunition provided by Taylor, the rebels furnished Taylor with blood or conflict diamonds. One recalls that the matter of “blood diamonds” took centre stage and almost threatened to divert attention from the crux of proceedings when British model Naomi Campbell was summoned to the court to give evidence regarding diamonds allegedly received as a present from Taylor.


Witness Testimonies and Evidence

Evidence heard during the trial read like scenes out of horror movies with witnesses recounting numerous and gruesome incidents of rape in view of the public, enslavement, and people being burned alive, beheadings and disembowelling, amputations and mutilation. The signature attack of the rebels during the conflict was the cutting off above the hand of their victims, commonly known at the time as ‘long sleeves’ or above the elbow, also known as ‘short sleeves’. The Court surmised that the sole purpose of these atrocities was to instil terror in the civilian population.


The Special Court for Sierra Leone

The Special Court for Sierra Leone was founded in 2002 and was accorded the rather unsavoury task of bringing the perpetrators of atrocities committed during the 11-year civil war to justice. The Court has so far been successful at fulfilling its remit of bringing to justice individuals which include feared RUF rebels Issa Hassan Sessay and Augustine Gbao to justice.


Global Reaction

The conviction of Taylor has been welcomed by human rights organisations, world governments, as well as victims and survivors of the atrocities. White House spokesman Jay Carney, in the aftermath of the conviction, said: "While there is no way fully to redress the suffering and loss of those who were killed, tortured, raped, and enslaved in the service of Taylor's criminal schemes, we are hopeful that today's ruling will help to dissuade others who might follow in his footsteps”.

“Taylor's conviction sends a powerful message that even those in the highest-level positions can be held to account for grave crimes," added Elise Keppler, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch, in a statement. Touchingly Halimatou Jalloh, whose sister was raped and killed by the rebels was spotted by Reuters reporters in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, holding a sign with the words: “Orphans, widows, widowers, rape victims, amputees, and all the war affected, wipe your tears as the dawn of justice has come." Jalloh’s statement couldn’t be more poignant in the circumstances as it succinctly encapsulates the feelings of all those directly and indirectly affected by the Taylor’s deeds.


The Future

One hopes that the conviction of Taylor, once the world’s third most wanted man, will leave individuals of his ilk quaking in their boots, from Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir. Last year the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrested former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo, who is charged with individual responsibility on counts of crimes against humanity, murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution, and other inhuman acts. Gbagbo currently awaits his day in a court which is likely to arrive at the same verdict handed down at the conclusion of Taylor’s trial. The victims and survivors of the brutal war which left 50,000 people dead will sleep easier from this point on, but the scars imprinted by the acts of the soon-to-be-jailed criminal will unfortunately be difficult to erase.