POLITICS: Sierra Leone Tribunal May Run into Funding Problems

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 5 2001 (IPS) - A special tribunal established last year to prosecute war criminals in Sierra Leone is in danger of being grounded even before it takes off.

The 15-member Security Council has rejected a recommendation by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the new tribunal be financed through mandatory fees levied on all 189 member states – as is the case for the two war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

But the Council insists the Sierra Leone court should rely only on voluntary – not mandatory – contributions from member states.

“There is a huge gap between mandatory and voluntary contributions,” says one African diplomat. “If voluntary funds are not forthcoming, the court could be in trouble.”

Unlike the two war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia – both of which were created by the Security Council – the special court in Sierra Leone has been established by the government of that country but with legal assistance from the United Nations.

The decision to establish the tribunal was taken last year and the court was due to function later this year.

In a letter to Annan last week, Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of Russia, president of the Security Council, said that voluntary contributions could be in the form of funds, equipment and services, including the offer of expert personnel that may be needed from member states, inter-governmental organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“It is understood that you cannot be expected to create any institution for which you do not have adequate funds in hand for at least 12 months, and pledges to cover anticipated expenses for a second year of the court’s operations,” Lavrov said.

Anticipating funding problems, the Council has proposed the creation of a management or oversight committee which would assist the proposed court in obtaining adequate funding, provide advice on matters of court administration, and be available as appropriate to consult on other non-judicial matters.

The proposed committee will include representatives of Sierra Leone, the Secretary-General, the special court, and interested voluntary contributors.

The Council has also rejected Annan’s proposal for the creation of two Trial Chambers and the use of alternate judges.

The letter says that the special court should begin its work with a single trial chamber, with the possibility of adding a second chamber, should the developing caseload warrant its creation.

One of the more sensitive issues before the tribunal is whether or not it should prosecute children who were used as combatants during Sierra Leone’s nine-year civil war.

Last year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that some 5,000 child soldiers participated in the civil war. The Security Council has said that all juvenile offenders should go before the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission, not before the special tribunal.

Furthermore, said the Council, the court should have personal jurisdiction only over “persons who bear the greatest responsibility” for war crimes, including mutilations of civilians, committed during the conflict.

One of the leaders who is expected to be prosecuted before the court is Foday Sankoh, the head of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the rebel group which not only violated a peace agreement it signed in Lome in July 1999, but is also trying to oust the democratically-elected government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

Sankoh, who was a former minister in the Sierra Leone government and a signatory to the Lome peace agreement, is accused of reneging on his pledge to lay down arms. Currently, he is in the custody of the government.

Before the peace agreement was signed, the RUF was accused of heinous crimes, including chopping off hands and legs of its enemies. But the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah offered an amnesty to Sankoh and pardoned the RUF for its criminal behaviour.

At that time, the United Nations expressed strong reservations about the deal and did not recognise the amnesty given to Sankoh for violations of the law.

In a letter to members of the Security Council last year, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the UN must set up “a credible, even- handed, and well-funded court to bring to justice the perpetrators of atrocities in Sierra Leone”.

Human Rights Watch has documented a rash of abuses by the RUF, including the first testimonies of amputations since the July 1999 Lome peace accord, as well as numerous cases of rape, widespread looting, abductions, forced recruitment of child soldiers, and summary executions. There were also published reports of abuses and atrocities by government forces.