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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SIERRA LEONE: Special court pinpoints location of fugitives in Liberia
FREETOWN, 5 May 2003 (IRIN) - The Special Court for Sierra Leone has repeated its charge that neighbouring Liberia is habouring Johnny Paul Koroma and Sam Bockarie, two key fugitives wanted for crimes against humanity, and has named their exact locations in the country.
A senior aide of Liberian president Charles Taylor reacted to the the UN-backed court's latest demand for their extradition by threatening that the whole region would be plunged into war if the court tried to prosecute Taylor for allegedly protecting the two men.
David Crane, the prosecutor of Sierra Leone's Special Court said on Sunday he had "credible information" that Koroma, who led a coup against elected president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in 1997, was in the Foya Kamala area of Lofa county in northern Liberia, commanding a pro-Taylor force of 3,000 armed men known as the Special Monitoring Group.
Crane also said that Bockarie, a former military commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement in Sierra Leone, was in Kahnple, in Nimba County, near the main road crossing between Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire, accompanied by 40 to 50 RUF fighters.
A Liberian information ministry spokesman denied on Monday that the two men were in Liberia.
Koroma and Bockarie and six others were indicted by the Special Court in March for crimes against humanity and violation of humanitarian law during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war. The other six have all been arrested and are awaiting trial in Freetown.
The charges against Koroma and Bockarie range from murder, sexual slavery and rape, to the forced conscription of children and attacks on United Nations peacekeepers. Koroma headed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) which worked closely with the RUF once it came to power.
Crane said:"I expect Mr. Taylor to deliver on his offer to arrest and turn them over to the Court. The time has come for him to fulfill his international obligations and immediately transfer these war criminals to the Court. Any credibility he still has is linked to this promise. He knows where they are."
However, Liberian senator Thomas Nah Nimely, a close aide of the Liberian president, said on Monday that: "Any attempt to draw Taylor into Court would be the beginning of a full scale regional war."
He accused exiled Liberian opposition politicians such as Amos Sawyer, who was president from 1990-1994, and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, of trying to stir up trouble from abroad.
Officials at the Liberian foreign ministry declined to comment on Nimely's threats.
But Information Ministry spokesman Jeff Mutada reiterated that: "Bockarie and Koroma are not in Liberia. The government had denied this before and I would like to state once again that they are not here."
He told IRIN that Liberia had not had any dealings with the two. "The waters are getting muddy in the region. The borders are porous and there are mercenaries moving from one country to the other. Liberia is busy trying to consolidate peace now and we have not seen these two," Mutada added.
Crane called for Koroma and Bockarie, who according to some reports has been fighting alongside rebels in Cote d'Ivoire, to be arrested and brought to justice.
"I call on all West African nations and others, genuinely interested in peace and stability for the region to seize, arrest and surrender these individuals to the Court. There can be no hiding place for them. There can be no peace for west Africa until this is done. They must be brought to justice," Crane said.
The Special Court, created through an agreement between the UN and the government of Sierra Leone, is mandated to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the civil war. It concentrates on crimes that took place after 30 November 1996.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Human Rights
[ENDS]
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