DATE=5/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SIERRA LEONE (L-UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-262488
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=FREETOWN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Sierra Leone's rebel leader Foday Sankoh, the
target of a nine-day nationwide manhunt, has been
captured at his own house in the capital, Freetown.
Mr. Sankoh is now in custody, but his future remains
unclear. V-O-A's John Pitman has more from Freetown.
TEXT: When Foday Sankoh emerged from hiding Wednesday
morning, he appears to have had two objectives: One,
to return to his residence to look for something; and
two, to seek shelter in the Nigerian embassy.
He never accomplished either.
Kabbah Sesay, the man who alerted authorities about
Mr. Sankoh's presence, was on his way to morning
prayers when he ran into the rebel leader at five-
thirty a-m Wednesday.
Mr. Sesay, a 36-year-old mason, says the rebel leader
was wearing a green-and-white knit hat and had a
colorful beach towel draped over his shoulders. Mr.
Sankoh asked if he recognized him, Mr. Sesay says, and
the rebel leader asked him to call a taxi.
/// SESAY ACT IN KRIO W/ INTERPRETER ///
[Krio] He asked him if he could keep him in his
house and find a taxi that would take him, Foday
Sankoh, to the Nigerian embassy.
/// END ACT ///
Ironically, Mr. Sankoh was captured at the villa he
disappeared from nine days ago, after his bodyguards
opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators, killing 19.
Mr. Sesay says he told the rebel leader to hide under
the stairs in the ransacked house while he went to get
a taxi. But instead of going for a cab, Mr. Sesay ran
to alert a soldier who lived nearby.
The soldier, a man named Mustapha "Black Scorpion"
Kamara, returned to the house with five unarmed men
and set an ambush. When Mr. Sankoh emerged from under
the stairs, expecting to hop into a cab, he walked
into a trap.
Mr. Sankoh was accompanied by a lone bodyguard, who
did not respond to the soldiers' orders to stop. Mr.
Kamara, a warrant officer, says he shot the bodyguard
once because the man had a pistol. He says the bullet
passed through the bodyguard and struck Mr. Sankoh in
the left leg.
There were conflicting reports on the extent of Mr.
Sankoh's injuries, but pools of fresh blood could be
seen in the dirt road outside the house.
Eyewitnesses say an angry crowd surrounded Mr. Sankoh,
hit him and tore at his clothes -- eventually
stripping him naked before soldiers hustled him into a
car.
// OPT // A local news photograph shows Mr. Sankoh
sitting in the vehicle, surrounded by scowling young
men, one of whom is gripping the rebel leader's neck
in his fist. // END OPT //
Former coup leader Johnny Paul Koroma says Mr. Sankoh
was brought to his house first, then taken to army
headquarters.
// OPT // Mr. Koroma's spokesman, Prince Nicol, says
the rebel leader was placed under police protection,
to guard against what he called "mob justice."
/// NICOL ACT ///
He was brought into this compound naked because
the public wanted his neck. But we decided that
should not happen, and the law should take its
course.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Mr. Sankoh's exact whereabouts are not clear, but the
British government says he was taken by a British
military helicopter to a secure location, where he is
in Sierra Leonean government custody.
News of Mr. Sankoh's arrest led to spontaneous
celebrations in the streets of Freetown, and instant
celebrity for Kabbah Sesay and the other men who
apprehended him.
// OPT // Derek Ojuh, a translator, praised Mr. Sesay
for finding Mr. Sankoh when no one else could.
/// OJU ACT ///
He's a great guy, you know. He's a big man!
He's a hero! For us, he's a hero.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Many in Freetown are calling on the government to
prosecute Mr. Sankoh for the deaths of the 19
protesters earlier this month, as well as for
thousands of rapes, murders and amputations allegedly
committed by Mr. Sankoh's rebel group, the
Revolutionary United Front, or R-U-F.
But a quick trial seems unlikely, with government
officials saying they want to give Mr. Sankoh another
chance to implement last year's Lome peace accord.
Attorney General Solomon Berewa said Tuesday the
government believes there is more to gain by
concluding a lasting peace deal with Mr. Sankoh than
by prosecuting him.
// OPT // The government's decision to work with Mr.
Sankoh again does not sit well with Sidikie Gassama, a
(46-year-old) former government employee whose 21-
year-old daughter Mariama was one of the protesters
killed by Mr. Sankoh's men on May 8th. He, like a
growing number of civilians here in Freetown, believes
Mr. Sankoh cannot be trusted.
/// GASAMA ACT ///
Let him suffer bit by bit. Let him compensate
for what he's done. By killing him now, [it]
will not pay any dividends! ... Let them keep
him in a cage to be fed as ... an animal in the
jungle would be fed -- in a cage.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
For its part, the United Nations mission in Sierra
Leone, UNAMSIL, says it was not involved with Mr.
Sankoh's capture. On Wednesday, UNAMSIL spokesman
David Wimhurst said Mr. Sankoh's reappearance would
not affect negotiations to win the release of more
than 300 U-N peacekeepers still held captive by the
R-U-F.
/// REST OPT ///
/// WIMHURST ACT ///
Our position has always been that those detained
by the R-U-F were detained illegally. Their
detention remains illegal. There is no excuse
for them being held. ... We will continue to
pursue, with the leadership of the R-U-F, the
release of all of our detainees as soon as
possible.
/// END ACT ///
Tuesday night, 79 Zambian and 14 Kenyan peacekeepers
who had been handed over to Liberian president Charles
Taylor returned to Freetown. Spokesman David Wimhurst
says the United Nations is hopeful more releases will
follow in the coming days.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the British government
announced its troops in Sierra Leone had engaged in
their first firefight with presumed rebel fighters.
According to a statement from Prime Minister Tony
Blair's office, British paratroopers shot and killed
four rebels east of Freetown's Lungi airport, where
the British forces have their headquarters.
A Nigerian UNAMSIL peacekeeper was also killed on
Wednesday, when rebels attempted to storm the town of
Port Loko, north of Freetown. The U-N says the rebels
were pushed back, but several pro-government troops
also lost their lives. (Signed)
NEB/JP/WTW
17-May-2000 15:49 PM EDT (17-May-2000 1949 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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