April 3, 2023 [Liberia] Day 42: Former RUF members testify
Witness Defense 21 is heard
The defense questions Defense 21
The defense began by asking how Defense 21 had gotten to know Gibril Massaquoi. He testified that he had known Gibril Massaquoi since 1999, when Massaquoi had gotten out of prison with the help of the West Side Boys. They met in Lunsar, where Defense 21 saw Massaquoi with Superman aka Dennis Mingo. The witness testified that Massaquoi did not have any ongoing arguments with anyone at the time. Massaquoi was a spokesman before his prison term in 1996 and after being released, he worked on administrative and media tasks. Massaquoi did not have a military rank, but the witness heard him being called Commander. According to the witness, everyone who had an administrative role was called a commander. Massaquoi worked as a spokesman and as the head of media and communication. In the RUF, there were different commanders. Some were media commanders, others were battlefield commanders. Gibril Massaquoi was not a battlefield commander after his release, “he was just a commander.”
The witness named some RUF battlefield commanders during the 1990s: Morris Kallon, Colonel Jalloh, Base Marry, Superman, and Rambo. Issa Sesay was a field commander and a former leader of the RUF, a battlefield commander. Non-combatant commanders included Gibril Massaquoi, who worked as an administrative and media commander and Edward Collins and Omrie Golley, who were media commanders.
Defense 21 stated that he had never been an RUF member himself. He used to work in intelligence and as a mediator between the RUF and the Sierra Leonean government. Within the RUF, he had been in contact with Gibril Massaquoi, Abdul Razak, Omrie Golley and Kenneth. Defense 21 was involved in the NCDDR, the National Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Council by training ex-fighters. He also had a project for agricultural development. Defense 21 testified that his connection with Gibril Massaquoi was based on a task given by his boss, who sent him to keep contact with the RUF as a liaison officer for President Tejan Kabbah.
The witness testified that Gibril Massaquoi was in Lunsar and Makeni in 1999 after his release from prison. He was trying to mediate the peace process. Defense 21 met him in Makeni. Gibril Massaquoi had been appointed to lead a delegation in Kono in August 2000 until February 2001. After his release from prison, Gibril Massaquoi remained in Lunsar and Makeni until late 1999 or early 2000, when the UN flew him to Freetown. Before the attack on 8 May, Massaquoi worked as Foday Sankoh’s personal assistant. There was a discussion in court as to the year that Massaquoi began this role. The witness explained that Massaquoi worked on Spur Road at Sankoh’s office. He met Massaquoi during this time period, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, describing him as a personal friend of his. The witness was not present on Spur Road when the attack took place on 8 May 2000. He learned about the attack from the news. Gibril Massaquoi was lucky and managed to escape with his colleagues to Lunsar. Defense 21 met him in Lunsar after the attack. According to him, the reason for the attack was the arrest of peacekeepers by Issa Sesay and others. Foday Sankoh was captured in the bush and he held in Pademba Road Prison. After the attack, Issa Sesay led the RUF.
Defense 21 testified that between 1999 and 2001 he moved back and forth between Lunsar, Makeni and Freetown until the beginning of disarmament. In Makeni, he and Massaaquoi lived together in the defense headquarters. In 2000 Gibril Massaquoi was Sankoh’s personal assistant, he negotiated peace treaties and went to Kenema to participate in the tripartite meetings in August 2000. Between August 2000 and February 2001, Massaquoi was a delegation leader and he visited Monrovia, Mali and other places. Massaquoi went to Monrovia with Abdul Razak and Defense 14. The witness was not involved in these travels, but he met with the members of the delegation in Makeni in connection to his mediation tasks and learned about their movements there. Defense 21 was not aware where Massaquoi’s residence was located during the negotiations in Monrovia but stated that he had a rented apartment. Before the 8 May attack, Massaquoi rented an apartment in Murray Town, Western Freetown. When Massaquoi returned in February 2001, he worked for peace, led the delegation and participated in almost all the tripartite meetings. Defense 21 testified that they were together at the time. Massaquoi’s last visit to Monrovia was in February 2001. The witness could not remember exactly when the tripartite meetings began but estimated that it was during 2001.
The witness explained that he was staying and travelling with the RUF delegation and Massaquoi during the tripartite meetings. This is why he knew that Massaquoi participated in all of the tripartite meetings except for one meeting in Makeni in November, because he had been flown to Freetown, because Issa wanted to kill him. Defense 21 testified that he personally called Major Oladipo to prevent this from happening and Gibril Massaquoi was flown to Freetown in October 2001. Issa Sesay wanted to sabotage the peace process. After his evacuation from Makeni, Gibril Massaquoi lived in East Freetown and from there he moved to Thunder Hill. Defense 21 testified that he frequently met Massaquoi at the time, they were close friends. Massaquoi lived with his wife Lizzie and two of his children. The witness met Massaquoi weekly in Freetown. Massaquoi participated in human rights meetings, the reintegration of soldiers, and the return of refugees. The NCDDR had projects to provide training to former fighters and Massaquoi had a fishing project in Gbundapi that was never completed. Massaquoi was with the Special Court when the project was supposed to be implemented. The fishing project was accepted in late 2000 and it was supposed to be implemented in 2003. Defense 21 completed his own project. Massaquoi was given this project after his evacuation to Freetown. He had made preparations for it, he had staff and funding ready.
Defense 21 testified that Gibril Massaquoi did not participate in political activities in Sierra Leone. After his evacuation from Makeni to Freetown in late 2001, Massaquoi did not have a role in the RUF. He participated in human rights meetings and had a conflict with Issa Sesay. The witness estimated that the war in Sierra Leone ended in 2000 or 2002. Gibril Massaquoi cooperated with the Special Court as a witness. Defense 21 had been involved in one meeting between Massaquoi and Alan White, the prosecutor of the Special Court, maybe in early 2003.
The witness had been to Liberia in 2002 right after the elections in Sierra Leone to pick up Massaquoi’s daughter. The child was eight years old when Defense 21 came to pick her up, he met her mother on his trip, who told him that she was born in 1994. The witness did not bring anyone else from Liberia to Sierra Leone. It was a difficult time as Klay Junction was being attacked. The witness picked up the child from the city center in Monrovia, a person called [REDACTED] gave him the child. The witness confirmed that Gibril Massaquoi had a girlfriend, Defense 13, in Monrovia. He did not meet Defense 13 on his trip to Monrovia, but, in Freetown, she had given him the address to pick up the child. Defense 13 had that address because she had lived in Monrovia before. She has a son, who was born in 2001 or 2002 in Freetown. Defense 21 knew that this child was born in Freetown because he had visited Defense 13’s home in Tengbeh, Freetown. He confirmed Gibril Massaquoi as the father of the child. The witness gave the name of the mother of the child whom he had picked up from Monrovia, and stated that she passed away beforehand. Gibril Massaquoi did not go get his daughter himself, because he was in Freetown he could not access Monrovia anymore. This was because the Special Court had begun its work and Charles Taylor had killed some of his commanders, such as Mosquito and Superman. In Makeni, it was the mother of the child who had asked him to get the child from Monrovia, as she was very sick.
According to Defense 21, Gibril Massaquoi was afraid for his life at the time. He was placed in the safe house by the Special Court on 10 March 2003. The witness knew the date, because he went to the Criminal Investigation Department and Issa Sesay and Morris were arrested. He had met Lizzy, but never saw Gibril Massaquoi again. Defense 21 went to visit Gibril in 2008 a few days before he left for Finland. The house was in the Light District in Freetown. The defense pointed out that the witness had testified in the lower court that Gibril had also visited his home, which he denied. At the safe house, there were some armed guards, some of them knew Defense 21. The witness also met Gibril three times in his convoy, and the last time they met was just before Gibril left for Finland.
The witness was not aware of any truck that Gibril Massaquoi might have owned or had under his command. He had heard of a man transporting rice and cocoa to Voinjama in a car, but he could not remember the name of the driver. The witness had not heard of [REDACTED], but he had heard of a driver called [REDACTED], who was a civilian transporting foodstuffs in Sierra Leone, between Magburaka and Makeni. Base Marry was the commander in Magburaka at the time. According to Defense 21, Gibril Massaquoi did not smoke tobacco.
The prosecution questions Defense 21
The prosecution began by asking Defense 21 to confirm what he had said about Gibril Massaquoi not being a military commander after his release from prison. The witness confirmed this, and explained that Gibril Massaquoi fought once in Makeni, when he had to defend himself from an attack by Issa Sesay in 1999. The prosecution pointed out that the witness had testified in the lower court that Massaquoi had fought alongside Superman with his men until early 2001 in Lunsar. The witness confirmed this, saying that this was where Gibril Massaquoi had to defend himself against Issa Sesay. Lunsar was not a battlefield, disarmament began there in 1999. The witness then corrected the year 2001 to 1999. He described the fight between Massaquoi and Superman against Issa Sesy: “When Massaquoi came to Lunsar, he and Superman they went to Issa Sesay and he said their Leader Foday Sankoh was calling him and he was not responding. Issa attacked them, it was an in-fight between Superman and Issa Sesay, a fight between the two commanders, a battle of supremacy between the two”.
Defense 21 confirmed that he had never been a member of the RUF. His information on these internal affairs of the RUF was based on him being in Makeni and Lunsar as part of the peace process. He was providing training to RUF fighters and disarming them, so he got to know a lot of things about the RUF. He clarified that he was tagged as an RUF collaborator. This was the reason he had to escape from Freetown to Lunsar after the 8 May attack: “At that time angry youths were just catching people with no former trial and just putting a tire on them and burning them.” As he was not an actual soldier, he had to be careful about the accusations of his cooperation with the RUF.
The witness lived with Gibril Massaquoi in Makeni from 2000 until October 2001, when Massaquoi was flown to Freetown. They were not together every day, but they saw each other most of the time. Sometimes Gibril went on his peace missions and they would not see each other for a while, but they were together whenever they were both in Makeni. The periods in between were not long, less than a month at a time. Defense 21 was not a part of the delegation, so he did not go with Massaquoi on his peace missions. When the delegation went to Monrovia in August 2000, they met with ECOMOG and ECOWAS. The witness testified that he was told that they went to discuss the peace process, but nobody mentioned discussing diamonds or ammunition.
Defense 21 confirmed that he did not participate in the tripartite meetings. His information about Gibril Massaquoi’s participation in these meetings was based on what Massaquoi had told him. He was with Massaquoi until he boarded the UN helicopter to go to the talks. Massaquoi was picked up from Makeni by helicopter four times between 2000 and November 2001. Issa Sesay and Massaquoi had a conflict about the peace process after the Lomé agreement, before the elections, because Issa wanted to go to Kailahun with soldiers and disturb the peace process. Issa also accused Massaquoi of being a member of the SLPP in November 2001 and he wanted to kill him.
The witness then described Massaquoi’s fishing project: “It was late 2002 and early 2003. He had trained staff to train the ex-combatants in fishing in Gbundapi”. Massaquoi did not train these fighters himself, he had staff to do the training. Massaquoi himself was preparing the project and writing a proposal for the NCDDR in late 2002 in Freetown. The witness could not say how long it took to write the proposal. Gibril Massaquoi never returned to Monrovia or Makeni after his return to Sierra Leone in February 2001. Defense 21 had not heard of Massaquoi being in Liberia in summer 2001. He did not go with anyone to pick up Massaquoi’s daughter from Monrovia in 2002 and they returned to Sierra Leone alone. The prosecution pointed out that the witness had testified in the lower court that he had also picked up Massaquoi’s wife in Liberia. He responded that Massaquoi’s wife was not in Monrovia but in Freetown at the time, he just went to pick up Massquoi’s daughter.
According to Defense 21, Massaquoi could not come to Liberia in 2002 as he was not a part of the RUF anymore, he had problems with the RUF leadership and had no protection. The witness had heard that Mosquito, aka Sam Bockarie, had been killed in Liberia by Charles Taylor in 2002. This was before he went to pick up Massaquoi’s daughter. The witness explained that he himself was ‘indirectly’ arrested when the arrest of Morris Kallon and Issa Sesay took place. He described the incident: “I was mediating between Issa Sesay and Massaquoi. So they said the Director of the CID invited Gibril Massaquoi to the CID headquarters. So I went along with Massaquoi to the CID and that was where we saw the police and they arrested Morris, Issa and all of us, but later we were all released, March 10, 2002. That day, Issa was arrested and Gibril was taken to safety”.
According to Defense 21, the guard who knew him at Gibril Massaquoi’s safe house was Defense 08. When he was coming back from Liberia to Sierra Leone in 2002 with Massaquoi’s daughter, he travelled from Freetown, to Zimmi, to Bo Waterside and back. He had to take this route by the coast, because LURD rebels had attacked Klay Junction.
Final questions from the defense
The defense referred to the witness’ interview with the Finnish police, where he had stated that there had been a serious clash between Gibril and Superman, and Issa Sesay and Rambo. People were killed, including Rambo. The witness confirmed this. Gibril returned to Lunsar after this clash in late 1999. According to Defense 21, Gibril was never against peace.
Questions from the court
The court asked the witness to clarify what he had testified about the safe house. Defense 12 explained that the last time he met with Gibril Massaquoi was two days before he left for Finland. He had visited Gibril Massaquoi many times in the safe house as he was a family friend. Massaquoi also came out of the safe house with an escort, but he did not visit the witness’ home. He saw Massaquoi’s convoy three times. These encounters took place when Defense 21 was on his way to Massaquoi’s safe house and happened to see him in the convoy. The witness visited Massaquoi in various safe houses between 2003 and 2005.
According to Defense 21, after his evacuation from Makeni to Freetown, Gibril Massaquoi did not return to Makeni.
Witness Soldier 41 is heard
The defense questions Soldier 41
The defense began by asking how Soldier 41 had gotten to know Gibril Massaquoi. The witness testified that he had met Gibril Massaquoi during the RUF war in Sierra Leone in 1991. They were both members of the RUF. Later, Massaquoi became an RUF frontline commander, he had this position from 1994 to 1997. When the AFRC came in 1997, Johnny Paul seized power from President Kabbah. Johnny Paul called in the RUF and the two groups ruled Sierra Leone for about nine months until they were removed from power. Gibril was not a commander at the time, because he was not appointed as a minister.
The witness explained that Gibril Massaquoi left Makeni in Northern Sierra Leone and went to Corporal Foday Sankoh in Lomé. He returned to Makeni after the signing of the Lomé agreement between the Sierra Leonean Government and the RUF on 7 July 1999. It was agreed that the RUF should move on to political activities and have an administrative structure, so Foday Sankoh appointed Gibril Massaquoi his personal assistant in Freetown. The witness saw Massaquoi leave for Freetown in October 1999. He was a bodyguard for the late Foday Sankoh along with others such as including Defence 05 and Akem Turay. They all came to Freetown in October and worked at 56 Spur Road. Gibril Massaquoi lived in Murray Town, but he came to work at Sankoh’s residence every day. Soldier 41 saw Gibril Massaquoi every day.
Solider 41 testified that he worked on Spur Road until the events of 8 May 2000. He listed the people present at the house that day: Gibril Massaquoi, Superman, Momoh Rogers and other bodyguards. They all scattered and Gibril Massaquoi found a way to get to Makeni with Superman. Soldier 41 was arrested and detained in Pademba Road Prison. He was released on 6 September 2007. The witness knew Sam Bockarie, he was an RUF field commander until the signing of the Lomé agreement in 1999. After that, there was an internal problem and Sam Bockarie came to Liberia. Gibril Massaquoi did not come with Sam Bockarie to Liberia.
The witness explained that Gibril Massaquoi was also called Gaffa, it was a code name used on the radio. Some people called him Gibo, short for Gibril. Soldier 41 had met Massaquoi once after getting out of prison. They met in 2007 in Freetown at the Youyi building near the Light District. He met Massaquoi, his wife and children inside a house, an upstairs building. Soldier 41 understood that at the time, Massaquoi was working with the Special Court for Sierra Leone, but he did not know any details. He had heard that the Special Court was ensuring Massaquoi’s safety. He did not see any security guards at the house. The defense pointed out that Soldier 41 had testified in the lower court that he had met Massaquoi in Freetown in a building that had Sierra Leonean security guards inside arranged by the Sierra Leonean police. Soldier 41 confirmed this, he was not sure why the security guards were from the Sierra Leonean police since the Special Court had its own UN staff.
The prosecution questions Soldier 41
The prosecution began by asking about 1999, when Soldier 41 had said that they had had a large group of people coming to receive Foday Sankoh in Monrovia. The witness explained that they lived in Congo Town, because they had been given a place there. When they left, Defense 09 took care of the place from October 1999 until Charles Taylor escaped from power.
The arrest of the peacekeepers took place before the attack on Sankoh’s residence on 8 May 2000. The RUF had arrested them in RUF controlled areas. When he was in prison, Soldier 41 had heard that Gibril Massaquoi came to Liberia in relation to the peace process. He heard that when the peace process collapsed, Gibril Massaquoi and others went to Makeni and started to renegotiate it. Soldier 41 explained that they sometimes had a radio in prison and people would sometimes bring news from all over the country. He found out about Massaquoi’s participation in the peace negotiations through radio broadcasts.
Soldier 41 explained that Gibril Massaquoi used the code name Gaffa since he became a commander. He was using it when Soldier 41 was arrested on 8 May 2000. After the Lomé agreement, Gibril Massaquoi did not use any code names, because he was a politician. The witness was certain of this, because he had met his former comrades after getting out of prison and they would have told him if Massaquoi would have used any other code name.
The witness saw Massaquoi during the same month when he got out of prison. He only met with Massaquoi once before leaving Freetown. When asked how he knew that Defense 09 stayed at the building in Monrovia until Charles Taylor’s surrender, he responded that that was where they had left him.
Witness Soldier 43 is heard
The defense questions Soldier 43
The defense began by asking how Soldier 43 met Gibril Massaquoi. He testified that they met when they were fighting for the control of Sierra Leone in 1991. Gibril Massaquoi was arrested in 1999 after the attack on Freetown and was in prison. Massaquoi was with Foday Sankoh in 1999, their cooperation began that year. When Foday Sankoh was in prison in 1999, Massaquoi was in Makeni as an administrative leader. The defense pointed out that Sankoh was arrested in spring 2000, which the witness confirmed. Soldier 43 was in Tongo at the time. He knew that Massaquoi was in Makeni, because Makeni was the RUF’s headquarters at the time and all senior leaders were there. Issa Sesay was in charge of the headquarters in Makeni.
The witness described Issa Sesay and Gibril Massaquoi’s relationship as ‘bitter’. Soldier 43 and others were arrested in October 2001, because they supported Gibril. Issa Sesay accused Gibril of instigating younger commanders to oppose him. Issa did not want to disarm. The problem between the two RUF leaders arose when Gibril was flown to Tongo by the UN.
Soldier 43 testified that Gibril Massaquoi and Foday Sankoh went together to the Abidjan peace agreement negotiations. When Sankoh was arrested in Nigeria, Gibril was there with him. The defense pointed out that Sankoh was arrested in Nigeria in 1997, which the witness confirmed. After 1999, when Foday Sankoh was in Freetown, Gibril Massaquoi was with him. Soldier 43 was not in Freetown, but he had heard of this from someone working in the peace committee.
The witness could not remember Gibril Massaquoi travelling outside Sierra Leone after Sankoh’s arrest. He knew Sam Bockarie, he was one of their commanders. He left the RUF in 1999 and came to Liberia. The witness heard that he died there. Gibril Massaquoi did not come with Sam Bockarie to Liberia, as they were not on friendly terms. When Bockarie left for Liberia, Massaquoi was in Makeni as an administrative chief. According to Soldier 43, they used to call Gibril Massaquoi Godson for all the challenges he had to face during the war.
Soldier 43 had heard of Angel Gabriel, he was an RUF soldiers. He was located at the Rutile Mining Company in Sierra Leone. He was lower ranking than Soldier 43, he was the younger brother of the witness’ wife during the war. The witness provided Angel Gabriel’s real name to the court. After coming to court, the witness had asked his friends for this name. He confirmed that he participated in combat in Sierra Leone as an RUF fighter. According to Soldier 43, he fought from 1991 to 1997 or 1998. Angel Gabriel is still alive, the witness heard that he now lives at the border. Soldier 43 had also heard of another Angel Gabriel, but he had died in 1994 or 1995. Soldier 43 had met him personally, he was Temne, they trained together in 1991.
The prosecution questions Soldier 43
The prosecution began by asking about Soldier 43’s stay in Tongo with Massaquoi. The witness testified that this was around the 20 October. Massaquoi came to Tongo to talk to the men there, as peace had been signed. He told them that their struggle was coming to an end and advised them to not listen to Issa Sesay, who was in control of the mines. The RUF needed money to change into a political party. Soldier 43 was located at a diamond mine in Tongo. Issa Sesay had told Gibril Massaquoi to not go to Tongo, but he had gone anyway. Issa then accused Massaquoi of treason. Soldier 43 explained that Issa wanted the profits of the mines for himself and Gibril told them that they should not listen to Issa, who just wanted to enrich himself.
The witness testified that the diamonds from the Tongo mines went to Issa Sesay. He had once heard that Issa had gone to Liberia with the profits from the mines and Charles Taylor had him arrested. There were rumors going around the frontlines that Issa was taking large amounts of diamonds to Charles Taylor. According to Soldier 43, Taylor was like a father figure to the RUF, because he had helped the RUF at the beginning of the war in Sierra Leone, stating that the RUF came from Liberia to Sierra Leone. Foday Sankoh had brought the movement to Sierra Leone. Between 1999 and 2003 the relationship between RUF and Charles Taylor’s NPFL was not as good, ULIMO was present at the border. The RUF was present in Liberia from 1991 to 1996 or 1997. They had a supply route going from Sierra Leone to Voinjama before Mosquito left the RUF. Soldier 43 had not been in Liberia to personally witness the use of this supply route. He testified that he had been in Liberia in 1991 and 1992 fighting with the NPFL but had not been in the country since 1996 or 1997. Gibril Massaquoi was also on the Liberian side of the border at the time. He was delivering food to the soldiers who had been ambushed.
When asked how he knew that Gibril Massaquoi had not travelled abroad after Sankoh’s arrest, Solder 43 explained that Massaquoi was an administrative person and commanders like himself always knew where he was. He could not remember Massaquoi travelling abroad after the problem in 2001. Massaquoi had not told him that he had travelled to Liberia in summer 2001, he could only remember Massaquoi travelling to the peace talks with Sankoh.
According to Soldier 43, the Angel Gabriel who had died in 1994 or 1995 was not a commander, he was a corporal. This Angel Gabriel did not fight in Liberia before his death. As for the other Angel Gabriel, the witness speculated that he finished fighting in 1997 or 1998 because that was the last time he saw him. The witness had seen him fighting with the RUF in different parts of Sierra Leone. He speculated that this Angel Gabriel is currently alive and in Liberia, because he had spent lots of time at the border area. The witness had also heard from Angel Gabriel’s that his sister, the witness’ ex-wife, was in Liberia. Soldier 43 finally testified that he could not tell where this person currently is. According to Soldier 43, Gibril Massaquoi knew this Angel Gabriel. Soldier 43 had spoken about Angel Gabriel with the current president of the RUFP. He began asking about this name after the first trial.
Final questions from the defense
Soldier 43 further testified that in 1998, the RUF was present all over Sierra Leone. His commander was [REDACTED].
