Remembering January 6, 1999 and how hell was let loose on Sierra Leone

....AND HOW THE "INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS" WERE FORCED OUT INTO THE OPEN...

New and mounting pressure is now on Rwandan war crimes fugitive Felicien Kabuga who many people believe was being protected by certain top guns within and outside various governments in the East African country.

According to the BBC and the Kenya Daily Nation, a court in Kenya froze the assets of a man described as "the most wanted suspect from the Rwandan genocide" adding that Felicien Kabuga is accused of helping finance the 1994 genocide in which nearly a million people were killed. Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama told the BBC he welcomed the court's decision but said Kenya should do more to arrest Mr Kabuga.

Felicien Kabuga is believed to have very strong protective connections, not only within political circles in Kenya, but deep within the security and intelligence units of that and neighbouring countries that have so far enabled him to escape attempts to arrest him. One man who tried to lure him to a hotel found just how deadly such games can be after he was found murdered. He is also accused of purchasing millions of machetes that were used in the 1994 genocide.

And talking of machetes....the use of these as instruments of terror in the mother country is well documented. Especially so when in the full view of the public junta activists in the capital Freetown were seen and heard threatening civilians with machetes among other intimidating weapons when students defied them and staged a protest demonstration against junta rule in August 18, 1997.

Let the apologists deny this.......as they vainly try to rewrite the history of the rule of that illegal, unrecognised and murderous junta from May 25 1997 to February 1998 when they were kicked out!!!!

LONDON HAS DECIDED

BORIS JOHNSON IS THE NEW MAYOR REPLACING INCUMBENT VETERAN POLITICIAN KEN LIVINGSTONE WHO HAD GONE FOR A THIRD TERM.

LONDON HAS DECIDED AND SO LONDON EXPECTS. WHAT?

Supporters of human rights abusers, rapists and murderers may try to rewrite history, distort events of what really happened in the mother country Sierra Leone during those turbulent and terrible years especially under the jackboots of the beasts (read AFRC/RUF junta) during their seizure of power from May 29, 1997 to February 1998, but they will never succeed as survivors will always be there to tell and write about the truth. From the summary executions of civilians (eg 6 innocent civilians who were taken to Cockerill for summary execution because they had travelled from Lungi to Freetown by boat. Lungi was then regarded as enemy territory because of the junta belief that their gadfly 98.1 FM was located there). The January 6, 1999 and the Mabaylla massacres of September 1997 cap it all.

NEVER AGAIN, WE SAY NEVER AGAIN

CAN WE ALLOW JOURNALISTS USING THEIR CONNECTIONS WITH WHATEVER JUNTA OR GOVERNMENT TO FINGER PERCEIVED OPPONENTS FOR HARASSMENT, TORTURE AND MURDER.

NEVER AGAIN

And just for the records, we reproduce 2 items published by Expo Times during junta rule. Kindly note that the junta was never recognised by the international community, nor the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans who escaped from their clutches using whatever means. What we have reproduced is a part of the Expo Times newspaper campaign to keep the junta in power at whatever cost.

1. Condemning rights group Amnesty International for exposing abuses by the junta (The Expo Times justifying summary executions, among others.)

2. Basking in the limelight of the junta excesses (Please note the due recognition of the illegal, brutal, murderous and human rights abusing regime by the Expo Times)

The forward and positive march against suppression of free speech and expression received a much-needed boost today with the launch of Online Free Expression Day. The Paris-based press rights group Reporters Without Borders, RSF working in conjunction with UNESCO, the UN Cultural and Scientific Organisation has deemed it fit to have such a day to highlight moves by certain governments to make life extremely difficult for online users wanting to express themselves in whatever manner. A welcome move, but would caution that while the internet appears to have made journalists out of every man and beast, there are laws governing the abuse of such a modern means of crossing borders using this somewhat wonderful means of communication which links people all over the world. A big welcome to this day and long may we all live to enjoy freedom of expression without having to look over our shoulders or forced to flee mother country, community and home.

Remember this on the state of the press during junta rule in 1997?

Of the 52 newspapers operating under the civilian government, only eight continue to publish. They include the government-owned Daily Mail and Expo Times, both with strong ties to the AFRC; Concord Times, the Point, The Pool, Torchlight, Herald Guardian, and We Yone. Commissioner for Information and Broadcasting Sedu Turay said the editors are blaming the government for their own shortcomings. Journalists should keep in mind that they are responsible for what they are reporting, he said.

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DENIALS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN SIERRA LEONE - THE GIBRIL GBANABOME KOROMA UNREPENTANT AFRC/RUF JUNTA APOLOGISTS - THEIR LATEST LIE

Just as the Holocaust deniers want to rewrite history and say that Nazi Death and Concentration Camps were a World War II myth, so too are apologists for the butchers during junta rule between May 1997 and February 1998 and the January 6, 1999 massacres want the world to believe that nothing of the sort occurred in Sierra Leone. Even though Gibril Gbanabome Koroma, could no doubt have clearly omitted the role of his newspaper the Expo Times in justifying the atrocities of the junta as he deceived the Canadian immigration authorities on why he wants protection from Lt General Dallaire's country, it is unbelievable almost to the point of the absurd that he would continue to abuse this welcome and protection from Canada by re-inventing his type who supported the junta during Sierra Leone's trying times.

His latest is making a journalist out of one Sullay Adekulay (on his unapologetic and unrepentant online junta machine) who was never known in journalistic circles in Sierra Leone, who was never a member of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, SLAJ as claimed by his mentor Sheka Tarawallie and who has managed like Tarawallie, Seaga Shaw and his brother to deceive their way into an organisation that caters for the protection of journalists fleeing prosecution, the EJN thus putting the organisation's good name and noble intentions into disrepute.

In fact what is even more worrying is that this so-called creation of Gibril Gbanabome Koroma when challenged at the EJN meeting in 2007 denied that he had ever claimed to be journalist!!!! His performance at that meeting then clearly demonstrated that he was brought into EJN as part of the Seaga Shaw-Gbanabome-Sheka Tarawallie axis who harassed all those opposing the unrecognised (both nationally and internationally) repressive, brutal and murderous AFRC/RUF junta.

Indeed! It is like allowing Khieu Samphan (PhD from France) to seat on a board that seeks to protect victims of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia!!!!

It is such blatant hoodwinking, cover up and outright falsehood that create problems for genuine asylum seekers wanting to avail themselves of the protection offered by countries like the United Kingdom.

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LEST WE FORGET - APRIL 29, 1992....THE LESSONS OF HISTORY AND A CERTAIN CAPTAIN VALENTINE STRASSER

Yes, it was on this day sixteen years ago that Sierra Leoneans woke up to a scenario they thought they would never again hear - the army taking over the reins of government thus ending 24 years of APC misrule, massive corruption, nepotism, ineptitude and outright negligence of the the country's key values of unity, freedom and justice. It was a seismic rupture that brought party stalwarts to their senses and made them realise, too late perhaps, that critics they had regarded as "unpatriotic" were actually the true patriots reminding them of their duty to the people of Sierra Leone - all Sierra Leoneans. The April 29, 1992 military take-over left many a party official reeling in disbelief and it is but fair to state here that many party stalwarts have never recovered nor forgiven their very own boys whose entry into the army had been facilitated by party stalwarts providing the magic green card that allowed them instant access into the army. You had to belong to have that card. So what happened? Kindly read this reminder written some years back. It could well serve as a gentle reminder that the duty of those in authority is to serve with transparency, accountability, good governance and justice the backbone of government.

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.....AND IN THE MOTHER COUNTRY, SIERRA LEONE? PARTY SYMBOL PHYSICAL FIGHTS, INTIMIDATION, ACCUSATIONS AND INTRIGUE SAY IT ALL AS THE RULING APC PARTY GETS READY FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS ON JULY 5....BUT WHY?

Reports reaching the Sierra Herald say that even when it comes to who should get the symbol for the ruling party, the "new" APC, its the same old picture with party "stalwarts" physically battling each other as to who deserves that party recognition symbol. Party thugs parading under various names like Task Force using threats, intimidation and brute force to have things go their way are out there in full force and under the eyes of President Ernest Bai Koroma. And this raises very serious questions about the democratic credentials of the ruling party. Why the fights? Why the accusations and counter-accusations relating to the integrity of party officials. Is there a plan in place as was witnessed under the one-party APC that all what you needed to get a political seat is to secure the party symbol? What makes the ruling APC so sure that things would go the way they were under one-party rule? We got this from the AWOKO website and made this copy for easy access here.

And what is truly astounding about it all is that - it is within the party itself!!!!!!

President Mwai Kibaki has at last announced his much-awaited cabinet after delays and a deadly game of brinksmanship  that seemed unending. More than a thousand wananchi died in post-voting violence as results were disputed by the mainly opposition party of Raila Odinga, the ODM (Orange Democratic Movement). It was an election that was so charged across the political divide that Chairman Electoral Commission of Kenya Samuel M Kivuitu,  when asked to name the real winner publicly admitted that he really did not know and that after declaring that incumbent President Mwai Kibaki had won and was present when he was hurriedly sworn in.

But there is one key unfinished business that must be taken to its logical conclusion. All those who were actively engaged in the mindless violence must be brought to book with the chief instigators and planners made to face an international justice system as the International Criminal Court. No matter what the settlement between the political parties now, justice must be seen to be done. If President Kibaki or Odinga, say are implicated, then for the sake of the integrity of Kenya, action stayed until when appropriate for any indictment to be made public.

Thursday April 10, 2008 - FIVE YEARS AGO, TODAY APRIL 10 WE LOST A TRUE SON OF THE SOIL

Time flies....a saying that comes to our lips and minds when we recall just how speedily, it seems, day becomes night, days become months and months into years. Five years ago on this day, 2003 Sierra Leoneans within and without the borders of the United Kingdom as well as nationalities who cared for the well-being of the mother country were shocked to learn of the sudden death of one of Sierra Leone's true son of the soil.

Ambrose Ganda the man who using the pages of his Focus news outlet on the internet focused on the ills and possible cures for a land he proudly called "our Sierra Leone" and sent many a noble mind taking a level-headed look at issues affecting the mother country.

The Sierra Herald prays for the continued sweet repose of Ambrose in the Lord and offers his grieving wife Alison, the rest of the family both at home and abroad and the many who associated with him comfort in the belief that despite all, Ambrose Ganda lives.
Amen.

Wednesday April 9, 2008 - BREAKING NEWS - Update on Saturday April 12, 2008.

Various accounts appear to be emerging over the circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs Gloria Taylor who died suddenly on Tuesday evening April 8, 2008. First reports say she collapsed and died while walking with her husband in a south London street. Others say she was not with him when she collapsed after a suspected heart attack and that husband Richard only knew of the tragedy when he went to see what was going on after he'd stepped off a bus on his way home and saw a crowd. And there was his wife......with helpers trying to make her comfortable after she collapsed. Whatever the circumstances, the uncomfortable and hear-breaking truth is - Gloria Taylor, mother of murdered school boy Damilola Taylor is no more. Tributes have been pouring in from all the relevant sectors of British society - from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, through former PM Tony Blair to London Mayor Ken Livingstone and human and child rights groups. She will always be remembered as the mother, who through it all never lost her composure in public as she sat through hours and days of court hearings that eventually led to convictions in her son's murder. Our hearts go out to Mr Taylor and the rest of the close and extended family and prayers that she would find rest in the Lord's bosom. Rest In Peace. Amen

Monday April 7, 2008 - 14 YEARS ON, RWANDA REMEMBERS THOSE VERY DARK DAYS THAT LEFT CLOSE TO A MILLION DEAD....THE 1994 GENOCIDE

Rwandans today paid tributes to the memory of close to a million of their citizens and others who perished in the genocide of 1994. It was a period where time would seem to have been reversed to an age where the licence to kill and maim was to be found in an ethnic label or association as Tutsis and moderate Hutus thought to have frowned on such barbarism were sent to early graves in the twinkling of an eye. And while all this was going on, the world mainly represented by the United Nations, the world body stood by without doing that which was necessary to put an end to the orgy of killings. Not even when their own peace keepers were slaughtered. A Canadian, Lt General Romeo Dallaire in his international bestseller "Shake Hands With The Devil - the failure of humanity in Rwanda" gave an insight into how the modern world got it all wrong and allowed evil to reign supreme as the good were hunted and murdered - thus concretising the Edmund Burke adage - "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" And it is to Canada, the lair of unrepentant AFRC/RUF supporter and apologist, Gibril Gbanabome Koroma that we shall go as he continues to weave abominable and hate-filled excuses for his kind that supported the abuses committed by his benefactors, the AFRC/RUF coalition of evil otherwise known as the beasts.

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.....AND WHY INSTIGATORS AND PERPETRATORS MUST BE BROUGHT TO BOOK, HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES

As Rwandans remember all those who perished in the orgy of killings, rape and looting that gripped the country, there remain apologists, many of them granted safe havens in Western countries who continue to spin stories in their bid to deceive all those who dare to enquire about their role in the 1994 genocide. A number of them have been unmasked and sent for trial and in the United Kingdom, rights groups still await the outcome of requests from the Rwanda government that genocide suspects be sent back to the country to have their day in court so that they can tell the world their side of the story. And just to make sure that the West treats the matter of genocide suspects seriously, Rwanda has now abolished the death penalty clearing the way for the repatriation of these suspects whose legal agents would no longer use the prospect of facing the death penalty in Rwanda as an excuse for not wanting their clients to go back to the country they are accused of viciously splitting with blood-smeared machetes and other instruments of death. And in the UK and elsewhere those who in one way or the other, either in the foreground or background aided and benefited from the pogrom continue to wallow in denial as in the case of Dr Vincent Bajinya (Daily Telegraph) or that of Kangura Editor Hassan Ngeze who was convicted by the ICTR sitting in Arusha Tanzania.

Zimbabweans vote today to decide who should occupy State House with the incumbent President Robert Mugabe sending all the signals that he will again occupy the country's top political seat and become leader of the country once more after nearly three decades in that position. The opposition has been crying foul amid fears that the polls will be rigged once again to ensure another ZANU-PF victory. These accusations are not helped either with pronouncements by the heads of the armed and security forces that they would prefer to have a ZANU-PF Presidential candidate (read Mugabe) and would not recognise any other candidate winning the Presidential race. As the world including Sierra Leone awaits what is clearly a momentous event, a closer look at the Zimbabwean political scene shows - similar colours (well almost) linking the two countries. But if the elections are all tied up, why is President Mugabe dishing out gifts at the last minute even as the security heads pronounce their ZANU-PF allegiance? A Trojan Horse here?

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....AND LEST WE FORGET - THE WOES THAT BEGAN ON MARCH 23, 1991

On this day, 17 years ago as history recalls, rebels of the Revolutionary United Front, the RUF led by their Libyan-trained leader Foday Sankoh entered Sierra Leone. Official records state that on March 23, 1991 Bomaru in the east was attacked by elements/frontline troops of the RUF composed of Sierra Leoneans, Liberians and regulars from the army of Burkina Faso. Thus were the first shots fired in a war that was to see thousands killed, tens of thousands mutilated and millions forced to leave their normal areas of life and living as they fled to places considered safe. 17 years on, it is but right that Sierra Leoneans reflect on what gave rise to the first open armed rebellion in the modern history of the country with the hope that those in authority will never again re-create the stage that led to war within the borders of the mother country.

It is the hope of the Sierra Herald and indeed many Sierra Leonans, we would dare say, that the present Ernest Koroma-led APC administration will do all in it's power to govern justly, to make life for the ordinary Sierra Leonean less of a hassle and that the new administration will make Sierra Leoneans feel proud to belong to the mother country in the knowledge that justice is not for the rich; that health and medical facilities should never remain the preserve of the rich; that critics of the government are not enemies of the state; that all the people require and demanded by the international community is accountability, transparency and good governance in the affairs of the people and their very own God-given resources.

Some stark reminders lest we go the same path again

THE BLOOD DIAMOND FASCINATION

BRIEF FACTS FROM THE ADVOCATES

CONCILIATION RESOURCES

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

And this for the attention of the President who seemed to have developed an affinity and outright unholy alliances with former top operatives of the AFRC/RUF human rights abusers - a tip of the iceberg.

Initially, the AFRC junta members who were identifying the junta's media enemies were difficult to identify. Most were rebels who had lived in the bush for approximately seven years. However, top officials like RUF Colonel Denis Mingo, Colonel Sam Bockarie, and Colonel Eldred Collins, and AFRC Colonel Leather Boot, Major Johnny Paul Koroma, Captain S.A.J. Musa, Captain Mandereh, Captain Abdul Jalloh, Colonel Saaba Kamara, Ajina Sesay, and AFRC Public Relations Officer Allieu Kamara, Sargeant Abu "Zagalo" Sankoh, and Corporal Tamba Gborie (both later executed by the Kabbah government) shortly became familiar to journalists who were on the run. Any of these junta members could order the arrest and detention of any media professional at will.

Ama Sumani is no more and it is but right we think, that we pray for her sweet repose in the Good Lord's bosom. However her case once more highlights the health delivery systems found in many an African country more especially so in Ghana and indeed, the mother country Sierra Leone. It is no secret that given the costs related to getting the right medical care in Sierra Leone, only the rich and connected stand any chance of getting what they believe is the proper care in the country with those who can afford it relying on so-called "medical check-up" overseas, effectively condemning the poor to a life of agonising misery and death.

That is why the Sierra Herald would want to call on governments all over the world, especially those from the rich and affluent donor countries to take a second look at their policies towards countries where basic health-delivery systems have been left to the manipulations of greedy vultures whose sole aim is to get rich at the expense of the suffering and dying poor.

And we would like to see in place a policy that would question political figures who are quick to fly out for medical examinations and treatment in other countries while abandoning their own health-delivery systems creating a situation as in Sierra Leone where every other person is now a pharmacist importing drugs of dubious origins as they continue to poison the poor and vulnerable. Creating a situation where a porter or cleaner in government institutions readily becomes a drug peddler and peppeh docta.

We say stop them from coming over for treatment until they improve upon their national health-delivery systems!!

AMA SUMANI IS DEAD

Ama Sumani, the Ghanaian woman at the centre of a controversy over whether it was morally right for the UK authorities to deport her to her native Ghana has died. According to the BBC Ama, 39, passed away in Accra, Ghana hours after being told that friends and family had found doctors in the UK and South Africa to treat her.

Ama was removed from a hospital in Cardiff where she was receiving treatment for cancer and was on a kidney dialysis machine when she was put on board a plane by immigration officials keen, very keen to interpret the law as it suited those in charge. Even as she left, the world heard her plea that she has been effectively condemned to death as Ghana does not have the kind of health-delivery system that would have kept her alive. And this action from a government that knows it has thousands still living "illegally" within the borders of the United Kingdom.

Ama apparently was seen as easy target as she was hospitalised and could be easily deported given her vulnerable position. May the Good Lord grant her eternal rest.

Ama is now dead and gone, but the Sierra Herald would want the UK authorities to look into cases like Ama's and weigh the options that could have saved her given the UK's long history of having good men and women who would have taken a different line of action, would have interpreted the immigration rules differently and who could have saved Ama. Could have saved Ama as well as others lined up for showing the rest of the world that the United Kingdom is really the leader when it comes to the construction of "Fortress Europe" sending a clear message to other European countries who are likely to take the path of compassion and hence save vulnerable lives.

As any student and practitioner of UK immigration laws knows, there is a difference between rules and interpretations and it is a regret that an interpretation has cost a life.

Please UK authorities spare the Ama's of this world and help them stay a bit longer on earth. Remember we are all sojourners.

Wednesday March 19, 2007 - TWO LEADING UK NEWSPAPERS OFFER FRONT-PAGE APOLOGY AND PAY RECORD SUM

What looked like history in the newspaper world in the United Kingdom was made today when two Express Group of newspapers, the Daily Express and the Daily Star published a front-page apology in bold about how they had been covering the story of a little girl, her getting lost in Portugal while on holiday with her parents. That these two newspapers could have boldly come out with that apology and more expected in their Sunday versions speaks volumes of the way certain sections of the UK media had allowed themselves to recklessly run with stories without adhering to the code of the profession. Beginning its apology, the Daily Star wrote -

The Daily Star today makes a wholehearted apology to Kate and Gerry McCann for stories suggesting the couple were responsible for, or may be responsible for, the death of their daughter Madeleine and for covering it up. We now recognise that such a suggestion is absolutely untrue and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.

Today's apology was also backed by a more than half a million pound out of court settlement after the parents of the lost child took the matter to court to seek redress over what they saw as unwholesome reportage by the offending newspaper group.

Heard on the BBC One TV output from the lips of a guest who is an author -
" I have come across PhD holders who are really stupid...and the basis of their stupidity is anchored on their inability to accept that they could be wrong"

It needs not the brain of a rocket scientist - to know that in the mother country, elaborate plans would be in place to celebrate a day dedicated to women by the international community. Speeches would be made, the UN representatives in Sierra Leone would lick their lips in satisfaction that it looked good for the cameras and glowing words of praise would flow across page after page about just how the United Nations and the government have done their best in observing this day. This despite the fact that the United Nations representatives in Freetown know that the majority of women in Sierra Leone are not catered for, this despite the fact that they can see for themselves that women continue to be treated as objects of no value, but to please the needs of the men folk who control the purse and power strings in the country. And yet the UN and all the Western countries represented in Sierra Leone would never question policies that keep women in the country as third-class citizens in their own God-given country. This observation from the UN Secretary-General - a part of this year's message from him says it all.

At the 2005 World Summit, Governments of all nations agreed that “progress for women is progress for all”. Yet the 10-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action revealed a serious gap between policy and practice in many countries. A lack of political will is reflected in the most telling way of all: lack of resources and insufficient budgetary allocations. That is why the theme of this International Women’s Day is “Investing in Women and Girls”.

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