By Lansana Fofana
FREETOWN, Apr 19 1999 (IPS)

Sierra Leone’s convicted rebel leader Foday Sankoh, who has been sentenced to death, has been flown to Togo to hold talks with his army commanders in an attempt to end the country’s eight-year civil war.

Sankoh, who has been in detention for about two years, was sentenced to death last year, after a Freetown High court found him guilty of treason.

He was flown out in a United Nations plane from the Freetown International Airport on Sunday, amidst tight security from both Sierra Leonean government and UN military observers.

The rebel high command had earlier demanded that for any meaningful and lasting peace to be achieved, they must first hold “in-house consultations” with their leader in “a neutral territory”.

The rebel leadership includes the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) field commander, General Sam Bockarie, and former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta leader, Major Johnny Paul Koroma.

After pressure from the donor community and tremendous military setbacks for the Sierra Leonean government, including a brief rebel invasion of Freetown in January, the Sierra Leonean authorities agreed to the rebel demand, which involved negating some acts of the country’s constitution.

According to Sierra Leonean law, a convicted prisoner cannot hold any clandestine meeting with an illegal armed movement. Nor could he or she be removed from prison and flown abroad.

“We are doing all this so that peace would reign in our war- ravaged country,” said Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Solomon Berewa.

All legal hitches were removed and the Appeal Court in Freetown last week granted Sankoh, who was extradited from Nigeria last year, temporary reprieve to enable him travel to Togo.

The UN Security Council which had slammed a travel ban on all AFRC junta officials, has also relaxed its embargo to allow them participate in the talks.

The Togo meetings are expected to last for a week and key among the issues to be discussed by the rebel high command is what the rebel peace plan would be and whether or not power- sharing with the Freetown government could be arranged.

Before he left Freetown, Sankoh expressed optimism about the prospects for peace. “We (RUF) are committed to peace and we believe the country and its people have suffered so much that peace should be given a chance,” he said.

He added that if all goes well, he would transform his guerrilla movement into a political party and contest elections in 2001.

On its part, the government of President Tejan Ahmed Kabbah, has promised to grant the rebel leader an amnesty and all other rebels and their collaborators, if they stopped hostilities and embraced peace.

The decision to send Sankoh to Togo has been welcomed by diplomats and Sierra Leoneans alike. “This is a move in the right direction. We are doing all we can to see that this conflict ends,” said one European diplomat.

Similar sentiment was echoed by a West African envoy. “Sierra Leone is in economic and political turmoil and there appears to be no winner on the military front. I believe the crisis shall be ended round the table.”

The civil war in Sierra Leone, which erupted in 1991, has claimed more than 30,000 lives and displaced a quarter of the country’s 4.5 million population, according to aid agencies operating in the west African country.

Excerpt: