12:00PM: Court resumed after mid-morning break and Witness TF1-045, Augustine Sama Mallah continued his testimony in open session. The witness testified about several issues including the RUF hierarchy, the attack on Sierra Rutile Ltd, the RUF Election Before Peace campaign and Sankoh’s trip to Ivory Coast and his subsequent arrest in Nigeria.
RUF Hierarchy
The witness testified that while Sankoh was the leader of the RUF, Mohamed Tarawalie, aka, Zino was his deputy. He said that Sam Bockarie was next in line as Battle Group Commander while Issa Sesay deputized Bockarie. When Zino later died, he was replaced by Sam Bockarie’s as Sankoh’s deputy.
RUF Attack on Sierra Rutile Ltd.
The witness said that while at Camp Zogoda in 1994, Sankoh sent him, together with other RUF commanders to launch an attack on Sierra Rutile Ltd. According to the witness, other commanders on this mission were Superman, Isaac Mingo and Co. Jalloh. The witness said that Sankoh told them that they should capture Sierra Rutile Ltd, kill civilians and capture the white employees working with the company. He said Sankoh wanted the white employees arrested in order to raise concerns in the international community. He said that they attacked Sierra Rutile Ltd and implemented Sankoh’s orders. The witness said he was at Sierra Rutile for eight months before returning to Zogoda.
Election Before Peace/Peace Before Elections Campaign
The witness testified about the campaigns in 1995/06 for peace before elections or elections before peace. The witness said that Sankoh was contacted by the Sierra Leonean government about peace talks. The witness said Sankoh demanded that all elections were to be suspended until peace was attained. When the government decided to go ahead with elections before peace, the witness said that based on advice from Charles Taylor, Sankoh ordered the rebels to cut off the hands of civilians in order to stop them from voting. The witness said that the order was given to Morris Kallon. The witness said that based on this order, they attacked Kenema and though they were met with resistance from soldiers, they succeeded in entering Kenema, killed civilians and prevented some of them from voting.
Communications Between Sankoh and Taylor
The witness testified that on numerous occassions, Sankoh held discussions with Charles Taylor. The witness estimated that he would be just about 680 centemeters away from Sankoh when these discussions were held at Zogoda. He said that during these discussions, Sankoh would tell Taylor about his health and he would give Taylor updates on RUF operations in Sierra Leone.
Foday Sankoh’s Trip to Ivory Coast for Peace Talks
The witness testified that in 1996, Sankoh travelled to Ivory Coast for peacetalks with the Sierra Leone government. The witness said that while Sankoh was away, Zino was the acting head of the RUF, based at Camp Zogoda. He said that during this time, Sierra Leone soldiers and Kamajors attacked Zogoda and destroyed the camp. The RUF were dislodged from Zogoda and the witness and some others moved to Pujehun. Zino disappeared after this attack and they later discovered that he died.
The witness said that he later joined Mike Lamin and they traveled to Liberia. He said that while in Liberia, Mike Lamin held a meeting with Taylor but he could not say what the details of their discussion were. The witness said they were later given Liberian passes and they travelled to Ivory Coast to meet Sankoh. While in Ivory Coast, the witness said that Sankoh told them he was to travel to Nigeria. He said they accompanied Sankoh to the airport and he departed for Nigeria. The witness said that while in Nigeria, Sankoh was arrested. Immediately after his arrest, the witness said that Fayia Musa went on air and said that sankoh was no longer leader of the RUF. This, he said did not go down very well in the RUF membership.
Court adjourned for lunch break.