Crimes
In the course of his testimony, the witness spoke of many crimes he had witnessed and some in which he had participated.
Sesay testified about diamond mining in Kono district, where he said that Koroma had sent Alex Tamba Brima, alias “Gullit”, to bring order to AFRC and RUF mining operations. He testified that civilians were forced to mine at gunpoint, which he said he had seen himself in Kono and heard about in Tongo.
During the junta period, Sesay told of a three-day student strike against AFRC/RUF rule, and said that the troops had been sent to quell the demonstrations. He said he was with a group of AFRC men who shot and killed two students. Many students were taken to Pademba Road Prison. Other students were attacked elsewhere in Freetown, and he testified that back at the military headquarters after the demonstrations had been crushed, some AFRC and RUF fighters laughed and told of raping and killing nursing students.
The witness testified that when he was in Masiaka on the retreat from Freetown in February 1998, he and various commanders heard Johnny Paul Koroma on BBC radio announcing “Operation Pay Yourself”. Sesay said Koroma explained that since being ousted from Freetown by ECOMOG forces he could no longer pay his soldiers, so he was ordering them to loot whatever they wanted from civilians. Sesay said that after that announcement there had been a “continuous looting spree”. He admitted, “Between my God and myself, I participated in the looting”. He said that where he was, civilians were captured and forced to carry loads of looted goods to the town of Makeni. He also witnessed looting in Lunsar, and saw civilians being forced to carry loads for RUF and AFRC commanders from Lunsar to Makeni. In Makeni itself, the witness said that he went with his boss, Hassan Papa Bangura, and Ibrahim “Bazzy” Kamara to break into a bank and steal money from a safe. He described rampant looting from shops and civilians in the town.
Sesay described a meeting of AFRC/RUF commanders convened by Johnny Paul Koroma in Koidu Town, Kono district shortly after AFRC/RUF forces captured it in March 1998. At the meeting, which the witness said he attended, Koroma explained that the civilians of Kono were against them. He said the area should be made a no-go zone for civilians: their houses should be burned, the able-bodied should be put to work, and all other civilians should be executed. The witness said Koroma also announced that he was going to meet Charles Taylor in Liberia to get arms and ammunition, which he felt would be forthcoming because these would help them to secure diamond-rich Kono. Sesay said that Issa Sesay (no relation) of the RUF rose to say that Koroma’s plan was good, agreeing that houses should be burned and that all non-able-bodied civilians should be executed. The witness said that after this meeting, he went with Hassan Papa Bangura, other AFRC members, and RUF members to Yardo Road in Koidu, where they encountered a group of civilians and shot them all dead. Sesay said he could not remember how many people they had killed. They then displayed the corpses at road junctions because the chairman (Koroma) had said they should create fear so that other civilians wouldn’t come to Koidu.
Courtroom drama
Following the morning break, Sesay brought to the attention of the judges that he was having problems with a court official from the Witness and Victims Section (WVS), who he said had been treating him like a prisoner. He said his dispute with her was causing him to be “stressed, tormented and worried”. Sesay was willing to proceed with the questioning once Presiding Judge Teresa Doherty assured him that the bench took his concerns very seriously, would raise the issue with the registrar and head of WVS, and ensure that a different officer dealt with him for the time being.
Shortly before the end of the court day, when Sesay was naming AFRC and RUF members assigned as military supervisors in 1998, he spoke of an Idrissa Kamara and said Kamara also went by another name. However, the witness said he didn’t want to provide the nickname for security reasons because Kamara was now a close protection officer for Sierra Leone’s new president (Ernest Bai Koroma), and remains more commonly known by his wartime nickname. After brief deliberation, the judges ordered Sesay to state the nickname. The witness said it was “Leatherboot”, a name already mentioned by previous witnesses in the trial.
The proceedings continue tomorrow morning at 9:30.
