Global Policy Forum

The prosecutor of a UN court trying crimes during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war urged two prominent suspects to give themselves up, warning that international arrest warrants had been issued.

David Crane, prosecutor at the UN special war crimes tribunal in Freetown, asked former rebel commando, Sam Bockarie, and ex-junta leader, Johnny Paul Koroma "to turn themselves in". UN radio quoted Crane as saying: "There is no place for them to hide."

Koroma, a former officer of the Sierra Leone Army who led a short-lived military regime after toppling President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, went underground just before police raided his Freetown home in January following an attack on a military depot. Bockarie has been in hiding for months and is widely presumed to be in neighbouring Liberia, where a civil war is raging.

The UN court last Monday indicted former rebel leader Foday Sankoh, fellow rebel commanders Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Alex Brima, for crimes ranging from murder and rape to looting, sexual slavery and the conscription of child fighters during the war, which was marked by the maiming of thousands.

Internal Affairs Minister Sam Hinga Norman has also been arrested for his role in the conflict as head of a civil militia composed of traditional "kamajor" hunters fighting on the side of President Kabbah.

Crane's statement came just after the tribunal said Norman had been slapped with an eight-count indictment including unlawful killings, physical violence, looting and arson and the use of child soldiers. The charge said the minister was accountable for criminal acts committed by the pro-government militia and had to take the rap as their boss.

It was claimed that "Norman knew or had reason to know that his subordinates were about to commit such acts or had done so and failed to take action against them. "As commander of the Kamajors, he approved the conscription, initiation and training of children below the age of 15 and used them actively in hostilities."

Meanwhile, Norman's wife complained about the treatment being meted out to her spouse. "I never thought my husband could be so humiliated after all he did for Sierra Leone and the government," Mamie Norman said. "I want them to arrest me and keep me wherever my husband is. My kids cannot sleep at night because they have not seen their father all these days," she added. But Crane, in remarks on Tuesday, said the indictments proved that the UN court was impartial and proved that "nobody is above the law."

Sierra Leone and the United Nations signed an agreement in January last year to set up the tribunal, which started functioning this month. Sankoh founded and led the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which in 1991 started a decade-long war against the government which was marked by its brutality.

Thousands of civilians had their limbs hacked off during the conflict in the west African state, one of the world's poorest countries despite its large diamond reserves. Mass rape was also used to terrorise the population.

Sankoh, who has been in detention for some two years, is in ill health and doubts cast on his mental condition have been heightened by the seemingly incoherent statements he made before the UN special court on Saturday.

Brima and Kallon have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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