POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Soldiers, Ex-Combatants Facing Treason Charges

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Mar 3 2003 (IPS) - Seventeen people appeared in a Freetown Magistrate Court this week on charges of treason, following a month-long police investigation into an alleged plot to topple the government of Sierra Leone.

”We spent several weeks in the investigations and charged suspects after finding substantial activities,” a Police commander dealing with criminal investigations told IPS on Monday.

Among those charged are five serving military personnel, the highest in the rank being a captain called Hindolo Trye and four ex-combatants from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement.

State alleges that the suspects ”conspired and prepared to overthrow the government of Sierra Leone by unlawful means”.

It all followed an attack on a military regiment in the capital in January by unknown gunmen. Scores of people were subsequently arrested and they included soldiers and ex-combatants of the country’s civil war (1991-2001).

Furthermore, on Jan 18, the West Freetown residence of former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma was raided by police on a tip off that subversive activities were going on there.

Koroma evaded police arrest and has since been in hiding. Seven other persons have been declared wanted by the police and Koroma himself has a price of 5000 U.S. dollars on his head for anyone who helps the police grab him.

”They too will be charged with similar offences if caught,” warns Karo Kamara, the deputy director of the police criminal department.

Ever since the police started investigating the unrest in mid January, they have always refused to tie up the incident at the army garrison to a coup plot. Then, there was anxiety among the war-weary population with many fearing for the worst to come.

The disappearance of Koroma and his utterances that he had the backing of the army and other security forces even heightened people’s fears. He claimed that the ruling government was scheming to eliminate him from the political limelight. There was also criticism of the police for the prolonged incarceration of the dozens of suspects and now a general sense of relief that they have been charged in court.

Security has been beefed up in many parts of the country and a group of some 300 British Gurkha special forces flown in to join the national army keep the peace.

Yet some people are still apprehensive. ”I believe the security situation is still fragile,” says Bockarie Kabba, a postal worker in the capital, Freetown. ”The government should step up security everywhere in the country to prevent a recourse to violence and anarchy.”

Mamusu Conteh, a schoolteacher, is neither optimistic: ”Talks of coups and treason trials at this time only shies away investors who might think a climate of insecurity reigns in the country”.

Sierra Leone ended a brutal civil war in Jan 2001 and elections conducted a year later. A UN-backed special criminal court is underway ”to try individuals believed to bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes”.

Some analysts believe Koroma and his core supporters may be apprehensive of the court, fearing they may be indicted.

Their Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta, which ruled for nine months between May 1997 and March 1998, is known to have committed horrific atrocities against civilians.

Meanwhile, the police have released several suspects not found wanting during investigations. But their search for Koroma and the other fugitives continues and has taken detectives to virtually all four regions of the West African country.