Global Policy Forum

By Edith Lederer

The United Nations has sent Sierra Leone a plan for a war crimes tribunal which will prosecute those accused of carrying out atrocities during the West African country's civil war, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday. The move brings the creation of a joint U.N.-Sierra Leone court - hampered by a lack of financing - one step closer.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has given tentative approval for a tribunal provided he got enough money, was forced to scale down the size of a prospective tribunal.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said U.N. legal counsel Hans Corell told a closed Security Council meeting on Thursday that the United Nations has sent the Sierra Leone government "a draft agreement for the court" and a draft statute. Corell said a U.N. mission to plan for the court will be sent to Sierra Leone at the end of the month, according to Eckhard.

Annan wanted countries which had pledged $15 million for the court's first year of operation to deposit the money in a trust fund. Eckhard said $10 million has been received and there are additional contributions, but they have conditions attached. "That has resulted in our having to have further negotiations with the donors. So we aren't in a position yet to say we have the full $15 million," he said.

The Security Council noted that additional funding was still required to establish the court and expressed concern that "the delay in establishing the court is a delay in bringing justice and reconciliation to the people of Sierra Leone."

Foday Sankoh, imprisoned leader of the Revolutionary United Front, is expected to be among the first people tried by the international court for crimes dating back to 1996. Rebels led by Sankoh have killed, maimed and raped thousands of civilians in the 10-year civil war, fought chiefly to gain control of the country's government and diamond fields. The rebels signed a cease-fire with the government in November. Since then, about 18,000 combatants have disarmed, including about half the rebel force.

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