SIERRA LEONE-POLITICS: Hunger and Torture Behind Rebel Lines

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Oct 28 1996 (IPS) - What relief workers and members of the Sierra Leonean security services saw when they visited a town in eastern Sierra Leone was hundreds of emaciated people who bore signs of torture.

The “living skeletons” as World Food Programme (WFP) country director in Sierra Leone called them, were captives freed from rebel areas by the Kamajors, a local militia made up of traditional hunters that has been helping the national army fight Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels.

The discovery was made by officials of the Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, the World Food Programme (WFP), the U.S. embassy and international non- governmental organisations (NGOs).

They had gone on a mission to the eastern town of Kenema on Oct. 23 and, while there, they heard that hundreds of sick and hungry people had walked kilometres to reach the town of Blama, 18 kms away. According to Diab, when they drove there, they found “a most horrible sight”: around 500 people who were little more than skin and bones.

“I could barely stand the sight of these horribly emaciated people,” said Capt. Amadou Karoma, a senior military officer stationed in the minerally-rich and agriculture-rich district who was part of the mission.

“They were carrying a collection of rags on their heads which practically represented their entire earthly possessions,” he said. “Dozens of them are children and women who could hardly walk as a result of starvation and exhaustion.”

Diab told IPS on Monday that “the freed captives said they had been used as slaves by the rebels and that they were not only underfed, but also forced to do farm work.” He said “they looked sick and psychologically traumatised.”

“Their condition really touched the NGOs and concerned people and so we (WFP) are providing them with food rations, while others are helping with shelter, clothing and other needs,” he added.

Baindu Sannah, one of the 500, said: “I can’t even explain the extent of torture inflicted on us. We were starved, caned and forced to work on farms. I feel sorry for the thousands who are still with those bandits.”

Abducting civilians and using them to carry looted items or as shields in the event of an attack by government forces has long been a tactic of the RUF. The rebel group that has been fighting the state since 1991 and has refused calls by the civilian administration that won elections early this year to end its insurgency.

Some of the former captives are still undergoing treatment at the Kenema government hospital. “These people are actually on the brink of death,” a senior health official there told IPS in a telephone interview. “Some have big scars on their bodies and suffer severe abdominal complications. But we are trying to treat them and restore their strength.”

According to military sources, there are thousands more civilians who are either still being held by the rebels or are scattered in the thick Gola forest near Kenema and Blama, trying to reach towns in the district.

“It won’t quite be easy to track and rescue these people from the bush,” Karoma told IPS. “My feeling is that hopefully the Kamajors may rescue them in their operations to raid rebels.”