RIGHTS-SIERRA LEONE: Healing the Wounds of War

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Apr 16 2003 (IPS) - "I was grabbed by armed rebels together with nine other civilians and tied like a cow before they started the systematic amputation of our limbs using blunt machetes," remarked Tamba Finnoh, a farmer from the eastern district of Kono.

Finnoh was the first witness to testify at Monday’s opening of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was set up by the Sierra Leonean authorities and modelled on its South African predecessor, with the aim of helping to heal the wounds of the country’s decade-long civil war.

Finnoh said: "Today I am incapacitated. I can no longer do my farming work with my right hand cut off, nor can I do anything gainful to help my family of which I was breadwinner."

Similar chilling experiences were recounted by other witnesses whose body parts were mutilated by combatants from the rival fighting forces. One man was stabbed with a bayonet and had his ears and nose cut off.

Such was the horror that characterised the brutal conflict in this West African country which left behind more than 30,000 dead, thousands mutilated and about a quarter of the country’s five million population scattered as refugees in neighbouring countries.

"The TRC aims at documenting an impartial historical record of the war, and give opportunity to victims and perpetrators to come together and tell their stories and pave the way for genuine national reconciliation," says Bishop Joseph Humper, the chairperson of the Truth Commission.

The Commission came about as a result of a peace deal signed between the warring parties in July 1999 in the Togolese capital Lome that officially ended the civil war. It has collected more than 7,000 statements from survivors, perpetrators and witnesses to the conflict throughout the country and around the sub-region.

The TRC does not have the power to prosecute, unlike the UN-backed Special Criminal Court which has already indicted some of the military commanders of the rival warring factions for war crimes.

But, at the end of its findings in July, the Commission will submit a report to the Sierra Leonean authorities suggesting ways of avoiding the tragedy that struck the country in recent years.

Unlike the Special Court, which is being fiercely opposed by many war-weary Sierra Leoneans because of its potential to plunge the country back into chaos and war, the TRC is largely supported across the country. "It is a brilliant idea," comments Mamawa Kanneh, a teacher in the capital, Freetown. "By bringing together victims and perpetrators, we will all learn to forgive, reconcile and move our battered nation forward."

Pasco Temple, a journalist and rights activist, said: "I fully support the activities of the TRC because I believe the crimes committed in this country are too horrendous. They must be documented and a way sought to reconcile the nation, and I think the TRC is the right forum."

The majority of funding for the Commission’s work came from the UN Human Rights office in Geneva and the Commissioners include Sierra Leoneans, other Africans and Westerners. Some of the hearings will take place in the provinces where human rights abuses were rife during the civil war and where some of the worse fighting took place.

In some cases, whole communities were decimated and civilians massacred.

Scared of another war, many Sierra Leoneans favour the TRC over the Special Court. The court has already indicted high profile war-time military commanders like Sam Hinga Norman of the pro-government militia known as the "Kamajors", Foday Sankoh and Issa Sesay of the RUF Revolutionary United Front and Tamba Alex Brima, aka "Gullit", of the defunct "Westside Boys" militia.

Two other indictees, former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma and ex-RUF battlefield commander Sam Bockarie, aka "General Mosquito", are on the run. Bockarie is believed to be either in Liberia or Cote d’Ivoire presumably fighting as a mercenary soldier. There is strong rumour that the two fugitives are bent on disrupting the Court’s proceedings, using violence.

There is also strong indication that Liberian President Charles Taylor may be indicted by the Special Court for his alleged role in gun-running and trade in so-called "blood diamonds" involving the Revolutionary United Front. "I see this as a potential flashpoint for renewed conflict," laments Margaret Sesay, a worried Freetown housewife. "I prefer the TRC because the war is now over and we should forgive and reconcile rather than put people on trial and risk a breakdown in the fragile security."

Whether the TRC will help heal the wounds of war and reconcile the nation is yet to be seen, but many in Sierra Leone believe it is a good start in that direction.