SIERRA LEONE: AFRC Junta and Kamajors Battle to Control Diamonds

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

CONAKRY, Feb 13 1998 (IPS) - The diamond-rich town of Tongo Fields has become a strategic target in the military junta’s ongoing conflict with the Kamajors, who are fighting to restore the deposed civilian government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.

Both sides are reportedly fighting for the town, situated some 250 kilometres east of the capital city Freetown, to gain control of the diamonds to finance their war efforts.

“The junta obviously wants control of Tongo and other diamond districts so as to smuggle diamonds and trade them abroad for military hardware,” said Mike Sesay, a political commentator.

Last year, the United Nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo on the military junta of Major Johnny-Paul Koromah as one measure to force it to restore civilian rule in the West African nation.

Sierra Leone’s ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) claimed last week that it had recaptured Tongo Fields from the Kamajors, a militia of traditional hunters that aided Kabbah’s government in its fight against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement.

“We are aware of serious civilian casualties and will not allow that strategic place to fall again,” the AFRC under secretary of state for information, Allieu Kamara, said.

The Kamajors however, have denied the junta’s claims insisting that Tongo Fields is still in their grips. Civilians fleeing the area confirmed that there is a huge Kamajor presence in and around the diamond-rich town.

The hunters militia also has vowed to capture Kono, Kenema and Pujehun districts, which are all rich in diamonds.

“I witnessed the battle for Tongo last week, and saw how Kamajors humbled the junta forces with heavy firepower,” said Marie Lumbeh, who recently arrived in neighbouring Guinea. “The Kamajors numbered over 1,000 and were using automatic rifles…”

Diamonds were Sierra Leone’s principal export for many years before the RUF began its seven-year insurgency. In 1995, it was estimated that some 6.8 percent of Sierra Leone’s total diamond production had been smuggled out of the country.

According to the Guinea-based, pro-Kabbah Civil Defence Forces (CDF), which is fighting to oust the AFRC, the military junta may be purchasing arms from the Ukraine and has employed mercenaries from there to help it in its battles with the Kamajors.

“The Civil Defence Forces (CDF) killed four Ukranian mercenaries in Tongo, and our intelligence sources have confirmed that Ukranian military instructors are currently in Freetown to train junta forces,” a release from the CDF, issued this week in Conakry, Guinea, said.

One resident from the northern town of Magburaka, about 220 kilometres from Freetown, told IPS that he had seen arms and “white men” disembarking from aircrafts.

With the Freetown International Airport (Lungi) under siege from the Nigerian-led ECOMOG forces, the AFRC has upgraded the local airstrip situated in Magburaka.

“We have seen light aircrafts discharging arms and ammunitions at the Magburaka Airfield and white men in combat fatigues disembarking…,” said Emmanuel Kamara, a resident of Magburaka, who has fled to neighbouring Guinea.

The West African Peacekeeping Forces (ECOMOG) have managed to destroy parts of the airstrip in recent jet raids.

The military junta also has accused Kabbah’s government, which is exiled in Guinea, of transporting mercenaries into Sierra Leone to help oust the AFRC.

AFRC secretary general, Col. Abdul Sesay, told journalists in Freetown that the deposed president has “hired the services of Iranian and South African mercenaries to come destroy our country”.