POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Crowds Pour in to View the Body of Notorious Warlord

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Jun 2 2003 (IPS) - Crowds have been pouring in at the Choitrams Hospital, in the west of the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown, to have a glimpse of a body believed to be that of rebel commander Sam Bockarie, commonly know as "Gen. Mosquito."

Bockarie, who died aged 40, was known as "Mosquito" for his ability to attack while his enemies were off their guard. He was one of the most feared rebel commanders to emerge from Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war which ended last year.

But few in Freetown believe that the body lying in the hospital is Bockarie’s. "That cannot be the body of Sam Bockarie," laments a bewildered Musu Kamara, a school teacher in the capital. "He used to be slender with projected cheek bones."

Abdul Bangura, a civil servant whose two sons were abducted and killed by Bockarie’s forces, during Sierra Leone’s conflict, says, "The corpse there at the morgue is one of a big, tall guy. Mr. Bockarie was never that big."

The "body" of Bockarie was flown in on Sunday from Liberia, where he is said to have been killed in a gun battle with Liberian forces, while trying to cross into that country from neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire on May 6.

The Liberian authorities initially refused to turn over the body to their Sierra Leonean counterparts, or even the UN-backed Special War Crimes Court.

"Mosquito" had been indicted by the court for alleged war crimes and violations of international laws. He had been hibernating in neighbouring Liberia where he was believed to be fighting as a mercenary rebel.

The registrar of the Special Court, Robin Vincent, said on Monday the court would carry its own independent pathological and forensic investigation "to ascertain whether or not the body in question is Sam Bockarie’s".

The court has been locked in a bitter tussle with the Liberian authorities, over the body of the rebel leader. The Sierra Leonean government too intervened and also demanded the body. After what they described as their own "investigation" into the circumstances that led to the death of "Mosquito", the body was finally turned over to the Freetown government.

The Chief investigator of the Special Court Alan White recently threatened that Liberian President Charles Taylor would be indicted "for obstruction of the course of Justice . by harbouring suspected war criminals who have been indicted."

IPS correspondent which covered the entire period of the Sierra Leonean conflict was shown the alleged corpse of the rebel leader. But the body does not match that of Bockarie and it seemed he was stabbed in the head and his throat slit open. Several bullets were also rammed in the chest of the deceased.

Even the Liberian Chief Pathologist Dr. Anthony S. Quay, who accompanied the corpse, told IPS Monday: "I didn’t know Sam Bockarie before, but at the moment we are waiting for further pathological study of his body as well as forensic analysis."

Sierra Leone’s ambassador to Liberia Patrick Foyah, who along with Quay accompanied the body, said the fact that "the Liberians have turned over the body is a step in the right direction".

"We have turned over the body to the special Court. Once they are finished with it, they will turn it over to the government. We will then look for his relatives and hand the body over. But if there is none, we’ll get the prison department to bury him," Foyah told journalists.

There is concern in Freetown that the Liberian authorities maybe up to a game. President Taylor himself has been linked to the ex-rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in gun-running and diamond-smuggling deals.

Bockarie fled Sierra Leone during a power struggle between him and RUF leader Foday Sankoh in 1999, and sought refuge in Liberia

Soon, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which was established by an agreement signed by the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone in Jan. 2002, following a decision by the U.N. Security Council in Aug. 2000, indicted him.

The court has mandate to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibility" for war crimes, crimes against humanity, other serious violations of international humanitarian law and certain crimes under Sierra Leone national law committed since 30 Nov. 1996.

Meanwhile, the controversy over Bockarie’s "body" continues. And war-weary Sierra Leoneans will continue to live in fear until it is ascertained the presumed warlord is dead and buried.