Former Liberian president Charles Taylor had no knowledge that his Director of Special Security Services had a close friendship with a Sierra Leonean rebel commander in 1998, a Liberian national testifying on behalf of Mr. Taylor told the Special Court for Sierra Leone judges in The Hague today.
The witness, who worked as a radio operator in the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebel group and later in Mr. Taylor’s Executive Mansion under the Special Security Services (SSS) division, is testifying with partial protective measures and is only identified by the pseudonym DCT-008. Today, he told the court about the communications that took place between the radio station installed at the residence of Benjamin Yeaten, who was Director of the SSS, and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) commander Sam Bockarie’s radio station installed at the RUF headquarters in Buedu, eastern Sierra Leone. The witness told the court that Mr. Taylor did not know about the contact and friendship that existed between Mr. Yeaten and Mr. Bockarie.
Several prosecution witnesses, including former RUF radio operators, have testified about radio communications between Mr. Bockarie and Mr. Yeaten. These communications were facilitated through Mr. Bockarie’s radio operator called Sellay and a radio operator named Sunlight, who operated a radio at Mr. Yeaten’s residence in Liberia, prosecution witnesses have said. They further told the court that Mr. Taylor had knowledge of these contacts, and it was through Mr. Yeaten that Mr. Taylor facilitated most of his communications and assistance to RUF commanders. Today, the witness, a former radio operator in Liberia, said this was not the case.
Explaining the nature of the radio contact that took place between Mr. Yeaten and the RUF, the witness told the court that “while Sunlight was operating the radio at the SSS Director’s residence…one day, Samson came along with…Daniel Tamba, also called Jungle.”
“Samson introduced Daniel Tamba to Sunlight saying the Chief [Yeaten] said I should bring this fellow to you so he can call Sierra Leone. He is a member of the RUF and he is one of [RUF leader Foday] Sankoh’s boys…Jungle gave a piece of paper to Sunlight with a call sign for the RUF operator Sellay.”
Samson, the witness said, was a former NPFL fighter, who was also one of the officers working under Mr. Yeaten in the SSS.
According to DCT-008, “[Samson] also said he had taken Jungle to the Executive Mansion for Jungle to communicate with the RUF in Sierra Leone.”
He said that Samson had been working with another radio operator at the Executive Mansion called William Jimmy, who helped them communicate secretly with the RUF in Sierra Leone.
“Samson said they were hiding it and the [Liberian] government did not know about it, not even the president,” the witness said.
When Sunlight discussed this with Mr. Yeaten, the SSS Director gave his consent to the contact with the RUF, telling Sunlight that nobody knew of such relationship that he had with the RUF.
“After the communication, when Benjamin Yeaten came home that evening, Sunlight told Benjamin Yeaten that Samson brought Jungle here so that Sunlight will connect him to Sierra Leone, and then Benjamin Yeaten told Sunlight that I have a friend in Sierra Leone and you should allow him to communicate with Sierra Leone anytime they come here,” the witness explained.
“Later, I got to know that [the friend] was Sam Bockarie,” he added.
When asked whether “Charles Taylor [was] aware of this,” the witness said, “No.”
“Charles Taylor did not know because Benjamin Yeaten told Sunlight that what I have told you should be kept to yourself and you must not share it with any other government radio operator…because this relationship between Sam Bockarie and myself, the president does not know about it and you should keep it to yourself,” the witness explained.
The witness said Mr. Yeaten added in his discussion with Sunlight that “if this information gets to anyone and the president knows about it, he will deal with me and I’ll be finished.”
“That’s how I came to know that the president did not know about it,” he said.
When asked about the nature of the friendship that existed between Mr. Yeaten and Mr. Bockarie, the witness said, “The friendship was so cordial, they were very close.
In response to allegations that RUF commanders, including Mr. Bockarie, made regular trips to Liberia and returned with arms and ammunition to Sierra Leone and that members of Mr. Taylor’s security apparatus had close links with RUF commanders, Mr. Taylor has told the court that as president of Liberia, he could not have known all the things that members of his security forces or his government did. These men could have had independent relationships or arms trade with the RUF without his knowledge, Mr. Taylor has stated. Today, the witness corroborated Mr. Taylor’s account when he told the court that Mr. Taylor did not know about the relationship that existed between the RUF members and Liberian security forces, including Mr. Yeaten and Samson.
Today’s witness was interposed in place of Issa Hassan Sesay, the former interim leader of the RUF, who has been testifying on behalf of Mr. Taylor for the past several weeks. Mr. Sesay could not be in court today because he had a dentist appointment. If Mr. Sesay is available tomorrow, then prosecutors will continue his cross-examination. If he is absent, DCT-008 will continue his testimony for the defense.
Things are comming to light!
This witness clearly spelled out that there was link between some trusted people withing the Liberian Government of which Mr Taylor was the head, and the RUF. So with this witness testimony, Who bear the greatest responsibility for this connection which aided the Sierra Leone war? My answer I think is Mr Taylor because Yeaten was a close confidant to him secondly all ammunitions entering Liberia at that time was purchase by him (CT). So now that everybody know that there was a Link. This is very important to the prosecution.
Mohamed Kanneh,
Mr. Taylor has not said that Yeaten was a close confidant to him. Yeaten appear to be not that close to Mr. Taylor when he wanted his friendship with Brockia kept a secret according to the witness from everyone in the government. In this situation, the person who bears the greatest responsibility for this connection is Yeaten.
Not all ammunitions entering Liberia at any given time was purchase by Mr. Taylor. Other people and groups brought in arms and ammunition into Liberia and sold it to other groups and people. The Blood thrust, power seeking rebel groups ULIMO, LURD, MODEL, who is one in the same, brought arms and ammunitions into Liberia and I am sure Mr. Taylor did not purchase the Arms and ammunitions for those groups.
Mohamed,
And this witness also said RUF bought ARM from the Guinea Army and their President was NOT awared also….simply put, the HEAD does not ALWAYS know ALL THINGS. I think that portion of his testimony just cemented HOW and WHY arms were unloaded at the airport.
Plus, Mr. Taylor did say Mr. Bockarie and Mr Yeaten did develope a CLOSE RELATIONSHIP but he believe it was because of the age range and they were fighters.
Mohamed,
YEATEN was a thief……..
@ Alpha
What protective measures were used for witness dct-008?
The cross and redirect of witness dct-008 should prove to be very interesting.
I think this question has been asked before. Why has the court not subpoena Benjamin Yeaten just like Naomi Campbell since every single aspect of this case against CT is linked to him .
Maybe Benjamin Yeaten can tell the court that he gives all the weapons to RUF without CT knowledge. He knows so much about the case against CT than any other person that have appear before this court other then CT himself.
It might help CT or not, but it will surely clear some questions surrounding this case.
Benjamin Yeaten should be subpoena to appear before the court where ever he is. Or he can voluntary appear to help his master CT just like Issa Hassan Sesay is doing right now.
John Sayee,
The reason why the prosecution cannot subpoena Mr. Yeaten or the country in which he’s living now is that, they the prosecution had file war crimes charges against him and the Country in which he’s living has refused to have him arrested. As the result, they prosecution can’t do anything about it. More so, the prosecution know very well that it will help their case to have Mr. Yeaten take the witness stand; therefore, they will have to continue the they say in their case. Even if the president of Libya, Bokina Faso and Obasanjo was to testify that Mr. Taylor didn’t do what he’s accused of in Sierra Leone, the prosecution and her supports will say they got diamonds from Mr. Taylor so they’re lying to protect him! So, this case is like if you did, damp you.. if you didn’t, damp you!
John Sayee,
The court is not going to issue any subpoena for Benjamin Yeaten, unless the Prosecution or Defense ask them to. Which neither the Prosecution nor Defense have. Ms. Campbell was subpoena to court at the Prosecution request.
Sayee John,
can you help to find Ben yeaten?
How are we to ever believe about this ‘cordial relationship’ that had existed all along between Boakerie and Yeaten, and unknown to the papay taylor, would suddenly end up with Boakerie getting killed by yeaten and his SSS because, according to them, Boakerie refused to disarm, upon his return from mission, allegedly, sent by taylor into the Ivory Coast? Boy, Boy, there is a saying that; “Lies are told by liars that are lying about lies.” Do these witnesses know that there is nothing that will free taylor from custody he finds himself in, except if earth quake hits the Hague and during the pandemonium taylor gets rescued by General Fix It and unknown to the Belgiums, and to a waiting Helicopter that takes him straight to Bokina Faso? That’s the only way I see taylor getting freed! Let all the remaining Defense witnesses say the opposite of every testimonies previously heard by the High Court Of Sierra Leone. I am sure the Judges are not like some of us on this sight that participated or are afraid of our own “shadows.”Besides, if taylor is taken into any country under such circumstances,peace loving citizens of Lberia will hunt him down and no matter what!
Fallah,
Will you be one of those peace loving Liberians that will hunt President Taylor down if being acquitted and taken to another country? JESUS CHRIST. DO YOU STAND BY WHAT YOU HAVE JUST SAID? However, we have always known the trigger happy warmongers amongst us, so what you are saying though not strange but familiar. Good luck with that. Be care what you wish for Fallah. Let me give you this short story while I was in Liberia about two weeks ago. I hired an extended Brother- in law to do some carpentry work on my house. He brought his crew and while they were working, one of his boys started to sing in Taylor’s name praising him and singing how the Liberian people love him. My extended brother- in law got mad and said he will turn into an arm robber just to spoil Taylor name, if Taylor returns to Liberia. In fact, he went on to say he will join any group to kill Taylor. His own boys said to him boss, We will tie you if you try anything stupid. ALL his own boys started to attack him both physically and verbally. He said they were fired. I in return said, you are fired brother- in law and they are hired by me. However, I paid him for the work he did and told him not to come back on my site. Seriously Fallah, can you touch Taylor in Liberia? Not even Ellen, nor your 15,000.00 UN troops in Liberia. You must be a dreamer and a joker. Fallah why did they take him from the entire region in the first place. Good luck again for your big mouth.
@Jose
no, zima is the dreamer and Fallah is the JOKER! However, those two probably hang out together and that would explain why fallah is dreaming.
J. fallah menjor,
Hoping for an earthquake to hits the Hague to stop the trial so Mr. Taylor’s possible not guilty verdict on all counts can be delay, is just wrong for you to think that way.
Let’s us hope for an end to this trial no matter what the judgment will be so we can put this era behind us and move on with our lives and build our countries to today’s standard.
Whether Mr. Taylor is guilty or not guilty, well not affect the progress of our counties.
Sierra Leonean and Liberian are living in the same deployable conditions they have been for the last 200 years. We need to be concentrating on leaders who will change these conditions our countries and people face, not concentrating on countries who want to vindicate themselves from there role in creating these conditions of the people, by blaming others.
I guess, all Taylor boys are traders huh, conveniently Bockarie is not here to testify. First thing, Taylor said he could have never send anyone to kill Bockarie, Bockarie was I quote “like a son to him”. Yeaton one of the men who was responsible for safe guarding Taylor’s life, was friends with Taylor’s ‘like a son’ Bockarie, and Taylor had no clue of the relationship. Give me a break! These stories are sooooo convenient. If Bockarie was ‘like a son to Taylor’, why would Taylor not want to provide him with weapons through his main man Yeaton? Also did Taylor not give Bockarie citizenship to Liberia, Bockarie and many other criminals from S.L? Why would Bockarie sneak around with Yeaton, as if trying to keep their relationship secret from Taylor when Taylor himself was very fond of Bockarie, going against our laws and protocols to provide Bockarie with instant citizenship, referring to him as a son? That makes no sense, Bockarie and Taylor were close so there would be no reason to sneak around, as a matter of fact according to Taylor’s own account of his relationship with Bockarie, Taylor should be applauding Yeaton for being so ‘Cordial’ with Bockarie. Taylor was aware of the weapons given to Bockarie by Yeaton, there is no way you can not have enough weapons to the point where many ‘SSS’ members did not have weapons (according to Taylor) turn around and give away a 65 boxes of ammuniton when you need to protect yourself from LURD, and than not have Taylor realize something is wrong. He may not have been micro managing, but if his claims of insufficient supply was correct, he would have noticed something was wrong!
This story doesn’t add up!
Ken,
You said other waring factions like LURD, ULIMO and others were bringing in ammunitions into Liberia without the consent of Mr Taylor. I agreed with that, but the witness was talking about the friendship between Yeaten and the RUF. Yeaten was not part of LURD or ULIMO so he cannot take their ammunitions to the RUF. So his ammunition for diamond transactions with the RUF, should have been done with ammunitions purchased by his BOSS CT. Unlike you tell me now that he was playing dubble role in the Taylor´s government. That is, liaison between LURD, ULIMO and MODEL and the RUF, something that was impossible. Mr Taylor should bear that responsibility because he was the Boss just like Sesay for the RUF as the SCSL clearly stated that indictments are for those who bear the greatest responsibility. Yeaten bear responsibility but Taylor bears the greatest.
NO Mohamed Kanneh,
I did not say “other waring factions like LURD, ULIMO and others were bringing in ammunitions into Liberia without the consent of Mr Taylor.”
I said, “Not all ammunitions entering Liberia at any given time was purchase by Mr. Taylor. Other people and groups brought in arms and ammunition into Liberia and sold it to other groups and people. The Blood thrust, power seeking rebel groups ULIMO, LURD, MODEL, who is one in the same, brought arms and ammunitions into Liberia and I am sure Mr. Taylor did not purchase the Arms and ammunitions for those groups.
I said that because you alleged in your post as you stated that “ secondly all ammunitions entering Liberia at that time was purchase by him (CT).”
You are right Mohamed Kanneh “Yeaten was not part of LURD or ULIMO so he cannot take their ammunitions to the RUF.” Mohamed Kanneh that was because LURD and ULIMO sold their ammunitions to the RUF themselves, which this witness and some prosecution witness has testify too.
“So his ammunition for diamond transactions with the RUF should have been done with ammunitions purchased by his BOSS CT.” Mohamed Kanneh, the judge asks this witness was Yeaten stealing these arms from the Liberia government. The witness said no. He got them from others that did not turn their arms in during disarmaments, which is a common practice of rebels/combatants when a civil war ends.
“Unlike you tell me now that he was playing dubble role in the Taylor´s government. That is, liaison between LURD, ULIMO and MODEL and the RUF, something that was impossible.” Mohamed Kanneh, I have never told you that anyone was playing double role in Taylor government.
this trail is becoming a joke why is this man still behind bars let him go he is no threat to this world the threat we had in this world is no longer in office and that was george w bush yes iam american but keeping up with this trial i think charles taylor needs to tell the court about that escape he had in a fed prison who was behind it i have an idea who was free charles taylor its only right george bush was behind this mans trouble ellen johnson made a deal with bush to have this man locked up because the fear she has for him like i said he is no threat to this world