January 18, 2023 [Finland] Day 5: Gibril Massaquoi is heard
The defendant Gibril Massaquoi is heard
The defense questions Gibril Massaquoi
Mr Massaquoi began by talking about his background, such as place and date of birth, his education and language skills. He was a teacher in Pujehun when the rebels arrived. He had managed to escape the area, but the RUF arrested him and forced him to work for them. Mr Massaquoi escaped again, but according to him, RUF arrested his mother and threatened to kill her, so he had to go back. Upon his return, Mr Massaquoi was arrested and put in a RUF prison, where he was tortured and beaten.
According to Mr Massaquoi, after his release from prison, he was taken to a RUF training centre in 1991 in Zimmi, Pujehun district, southern Sierra Leone. He spent a few weeks there and was then assigned to a unit. The RUF was pushed towards the Liberian border by the government in 1992, but the rebel group managed to come back to Sierra Leone. By that time, Mr Massaquoi had been assigned to unit, or a “target” as they were called within the RUF, called Alligator Forces. He worked as a target secretary, and then was made commander of the Alligator Forces by the end of 1993 and stayed there until early 1994, until he was transferred to Northern Sierra Leone to serve as a junior commander to one of Mr Foday’s assistants. Mr Massaquoi stated that the Alligator unit participated in combat, but his role within that unit ended in 1994, and someone else replaced him.
Mr Massaquoi stayed in Northern Sierra Leone until late 1995, when he became ill. Mr Massaquoi was sent to Côte d’Ivoire for treatment in 1996, and stayed there until 1997. When the AFRC coup took place, Mr Massaquoi was in Nigeria with the leader of the RUF, Foday Sankoh. Mr Sankoh had appointed Mr Massaquoi as the RUF spokesman in early 1997. This role meant that he was in contact with the press, giving out RUF’s opinion on various issues.
By the time he had become the RUF spokesman, he did not act as a commander of any troop or unit within the RUF, as he had become a part of the RUF’s political division. He did not participate in combat after being assigned the position of a spokesman. According to Mr Massaquoi, he returned from Nigeria in August 1997 to deliver letters from Sankoh to various AFRC and RUF leaders. He was arrested by the AFRC in October 1997 for trying to overthrow the military government and remained in prison on Pademba Road until January 1999, when Freetown was attacked, and the prisoners were freed. After that, Mr Massaquoi went to Lunsar in Northern Sierra Leone, where his friend Superman was in control of the area. He also described the chain of command the RUF had when he was released, including the roles of Denis Mingo (aka Superman), Moris Kallon, Issa Sesay, and Sam Bockarie.
After going to to Lomé (prior that the peace agreement had been signed), Foday Sankoh sent him to Lunsar as a AFRC group – called the West Side Boys – had breached a ceasefire in force at the time. Here Mr Massaquoi was arrested again for some time, and the group did not disarm. After the signing of the Lomé peace accord, Foday Sankoh went to Freetown to serve as a vice president of Sierra Leone. He appointed Mr Massaquoi as his special assistant in late 1999, so he moved from Lunsar to Freetown to work for Sankoh. After listing people who were appointed at the National Unity team, he specified that after the ceasefire, people stopped fighting and dedicated themselves to politics. He was also Mr Massaquoi also described the people participating in the RUF’s political and military wings at the time. In 1995, he had heard that the RUF had founded a political “wing”, also called the RUF’s external delegation. The wing continued to work until 1999, up to the signing of the Lomé peace accord. Mr Massaquoi also stated that he did not go to Liberia during the time leading up to the signing of the Lomé peace accord, as the internal fighting within the RUF prevented him from moving away from Makeni. He stated that he was close to Superman, and reiterated
Mr Massaquoi was asked to describe the effects the Lomé agreement had on the RUF. He stated that it changed the RUF’s position, as they had agreed to disarm all fighters in exchange for political status in Sierra Leone. Foday Sankoh was appointed as a vice president in charge of development and minerals. Mr Massaquoi was asked to work as Sankoh’s special assistant in Freetown. He participated in various meetings, such as those discussing disarmament, demobilisation of RUF troops and their rehabilitation. Mr Massaquoi worked in Sankoh’s home office on Spur Road almost daily, from Monday to Saturday every week. Mr Massaquoi stated that sometimes Sankoh sent him to disarm some fighters in the field. He would bring them food to keep them calm. He repeated that he never went to Liberia in 1999. He also described his family at the time.
Mr Massaquoi was asked about the RUF’s political and military wing and the internal conflict within the RUF. He said that the internal conflict was due to the disarmament. Sam Bockarie, who led the military wing, told his troops that they should not disarm and not listen to Sankoh’s orders. Mr Massaquoi described that when he went to Eastern Sierra Leone to disarm some of the RUF troops, Sam Bockarie’s did not want to be disarmed, so they could not get them all to lay down their weapons. He described his relationship with Sam Bockarie as very bad. He said that Sam Bockarie and others were responsible for his arrest in October 1997. Once out of the prison, Sam Bockarie demanded him to report to him, but Mr Massaquoi said that he could not do that. Since October 1999, Mr Bockarie had openly rebelled against Mr Sankoh and in December 1999, he publicly stated that Mr Sankoh’s orders should not be followed. This led to Mr Sankoh sending Issa Sesay and Morris Kallon after him, so Mr Bockarie escaped to Liberia. After that, and until some talks in 2000, there was no cooperation between each internal faction and that some of this friction caused the death of some RUF soldiers. Mr Massaquoi himself had told the BBC that if Bockarie wanted to return, he should apply to become a member of RUF again and start his career from scratch. Mr Massaquoi explained that Superman and himself were on one side of the internal division, and that Issa Sesay supported Mr Bockarie. He also added that Mr Bockarie had gone to Liberia in December 1999, and when asked again if he had gone with him, Mr Massaquoi replied “I didn’t go, I couldn’t have gone when we didn’t get on.”
In early 2000 he was still working as Mr Sankoh’s special assistant. He went to meetings, took food to the countryside, and received diamonds from Issa Sesay that he took to Mr Sankoh in Freetown. In February 2000, Mr Sankoh, Mr Massaquoi and other people travelled to South Africa through Abidjan for two weeks. They went there to meet people and gain support for the RUF. Mr Massaquoi stated that did not participate in any military action at that time, he participated in disarmament meetings and tried to get the RUF military to lay down their weapons. In late 1999, early 2000 the RUF had begun to disarm, and that process continued into 2000.
Mr Massaquoi was asked about a TRC report which detailed the abduction of UN peacekeepers, which had been admitted into written evidence in the case.
Mr Massaquoi explained that they had learned that a group under Morris Kallon’s command attacked UN peacekeepers who were establishing a DDR camp. Issa Sesay was sent by Mr Sankoh to “get the situation under control. But the situation was certainly not under control.” A delegation – led by Isaac Mongo – was sent via a UN helicopter to see what had happed – they produced a report, but the defendant did not know what it said. This was not the only incident between UN peacekeeping troops and the RUF, there had been two or three other issues in different locations as well, which led to some of the peacekeepers to withdrew from the provinces and relocate to Freetown. Some had been taken hostage, and their equipment sieged. The situation had gotten worse since early May that year and “the situation got completely out of hand” – the government had then sent militia groups and civilian groups to attack Mr Sankoh’s home on May 8, 2000 – Mr Massaquoi witnessed it himself.
He had witnessed that the peacekeepers were trying to keep the crowd form coming to Mr Sankoh’s home – and whilst at the beginning they managed to keep things under control, they started shooting in the air when the crowd started tearing up phone lines and attacking farms. This only made the situation worse, and some armed men, which had been behind the civilians, started shooting at the house. Mr Sankoh’s bodyguards also started shooting. Mr Massaquoi, Mr Sankoh, and a few others that were present managed to leave the property. They run into the Peninsula Mountains, as they were being shot at. They were trying to get back to RUF-held areas, and himself, Superman, Kenneth Macauley, and Ray managed to escape – but they could not find Foday Sankoh anymore. They had sent a team then to look for him but could not find him. The defendant ended up spending days in the jungle before going to Lunsar, and then Makeni.
He then spent June and July there, until he was summoned to a meeting in Kono. Mr Sankoh had been arrested and jailed until he was handed over to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, he had then died in prison in 2003. Because of Sankoh’s arrest, Issa Sesay called up the meeting in Kono. All of the RUF commanders were called to the meeting, including Mr Massaquoi. Some of them were called commanders, but they did not have any military responsibilities. According to Mr Massaquoi, during this meeting Issa Sesay wanted to discuss the future of the peace process and the leadership of the RUF, since ECOMOG did not know, after Mr Sankoh’s arrest, who to communicate with for the peace process. Because of Mr Sesay’s seniority, they had all agreed that he would act as an interim leader of the RUF. They also agreed on the creation of an external delegation, that would negotiate with ECOWAS on returning the peace process back on track. Mr Massaquoi was appointed as the head of the delegation. Moreover, Mr Sesay communicated to them that the abducted peacekeepers had been released.
The delegation was based into Monrovia. They could not travel immediately after the Kono meeting, as there were issues with the security en route in Lofa county, Liberia. The route was from Foya to Voinjama and there were rebels from Guinea in that area, threatening the RUF’s travel. Issa Sesay arranged a troop to secure the route to Monrovia, where the delegation had a meeting with ECOWAS’ officials in August. According to Mr Massaquoi, the reason why the delegation was placed in Monrovia was because Charles Taylor was acting as a guarantor of the peace arrangement with ECOWAS. The delegation met with Charles Taylor many times, as Mr Taylor was acting as a middle man between the RUF delegation and ECOWAS. Mr Massaquoi described the personal relations him and other RUF leaders had with Charles Taylor, saying that he never had any issues with him. He was once at a meeting where Mr Taylor returned some diamonds that belonged to Mr Bockarie to the RUF. According to Mr Massaquoi, other RUF members were staying in Liberia prior to the delegation’s arrival to deal diamonds between Issa Sesay and Charles Taylor. Mr Massaquoi stated that there had been a “guest house” acting as a RUF base in Monrovia since 1999 kept by Defense 09. The relationship between Mr Sesay and Mr Taylor was cordial, and Mr Sesay would report to Mr Taylor whenever he asked.
During one meeting, Charles Taylor cautioned Mr Massaquoi to be careful when talking with the press and gave him a satellite phone for him to use during interviews. The satellite phone had a functionality that allowed the user to hide his true location from the other person.
The delegation travelled from Kono, Sierra Leone to Kailahun. Then they crossed the border to Liberia. They went to Foya and took the main route to Voinjama, where they met with RUF soldiers. Mr Massaquoi stated that he is not aware of any other roads, besides the “main road” that leads to Monrovia. He stated that the trip from Kailahun to Monrovia took two days in total, travelling nonstop, swapping drivers. When asked about the route, why it was chosen, Mr Massaquoi stated that Issa Sesay and Morris Kallon had taken the route previously and deemed it the safest route to Monrovia. Mr Massaquoi also stated that he always took this route when travelling between Sierra Leone and Monrovia. Occasionally they took a helicopter from Monrovia to Lofa and a car from Lofa to Sierra Leone.
Mr Massaquoi mentioned that the RUF guest house was in Sinkor, at the edge of Congo Town. It was generally known as the RUF guest house, it did not have a specific name. He was away from Sierra Leone until November 10, 2000, when the cease fire agreement was signed. He had not stayed in Liberia all of the time, he flew – alongside the delegation – to Mali for a few days, where he met the President of ECOWAS. This Mali trip took place in late September or early October 2000. Mr Massaquoi also participated in the Abuja peace negotiations with Defense 14, Abdul Razack and Jonathan Kposowa, who led the delegation. After the Abuja negotiations, the delegation returned to Monrovia and moved away from the RUF guest house to another apartment in Congo Town. After a few days, the delegation returned to Sierra Leone. They took the same land route as on their way in, from Monrovia to Voinjama and Kailahun. They stopped in Voinjama and spoke with the RUF commanders, such as Defense 7. Mr Massaquoi stated he did not witness any fighting in Lofa county at that time. The RUF was present in Lofa, as Issa Sesay had sent them to secure the route for the peace delegation’s travels.
Mr Massaquoi also told that he spent some time in Sierra Leone and returned then to Monrovia to continue the peace process. When asked if these trips also had other purposes other than peace negotiations, Gibril Massaquoi stated that in general the peace process was the main topic – however, there were also other discussions, such as diamonds, meetings between Mr Sesay and Mr Taylor, and other political activities. Mr Massaquoi denied having personally carried diamonds but mentioned that he had been present when Issa Sesay had given diamonds to Ibrahim Balde, who in turn gave them to Charles Taylor. Mr Massaquoi also mentioned that he was once present when Issa Sesay handed some diamonds to a Lebanese group in exchange of some items, such as computers and office supplies.
Mr Massaquoi returned to Monrovia in December 2000, to discuss the future of the peace process. When asked if diamonds were involved in this trip, Gibril Massaquoi answered “yes, of course.”
Going back to the satellite phone given to him by President Taylor in December 2000 Mr Massaquoi stated that neither him nor anyone else in the RUF had one prior to that – he had even written to the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo asking for one, in order to properly communicate with ECOWAS. The phone that Mr Taylor gave to him was different than the ones he had used before, as you could “mute” your location by pressing an orange button. Mr Taylor had giving him instructions on how to use it, as he had not liked the way Mr Massaquoi had been giving interviews to the press. The reason for that was because “Liberia had problems with the RUF”, and Mr Massaquoi giving daily interviews would create issues for Mr Taylor and his people, hence why he was given that satellite phone. Mr Massaquoi explained that the phone masked the location it was in. According to him, he was instructed only to use it in Liberia, so when he went to Sierra Leone, he didn’t take it with him.
Mr Massaquoi returned to Sierra Leone before Christmas in 2000 and after a few days in Makeni, he made another trip to Monrovia in January 2001. He left Monrovia between January and February 2001 to return to Sierra Leone. The reason for his return was that General Opande, the commander of the UNAMSIL peacekeeping contingent in Sierra Leone, had become aware that Mr Massaquoi had not been disclosing his location: during a BBC interview, he had stated he was in Makeni, however, General Opande had been in Makeni at that time, and he knew that Mr Massaquoi was not there. He returned the satellite phone to Mr Taylor via Benjamin Yeaten.
Mr Massaquoi stated that he still returned to Monrovia with Issa Sesay and others to meet President Taylor. They discussed the political situation in Sierra Leone, and Issa Sesay also brought diamonds to President Taylor. After a while, Mr Massaquoi returned to Sierra Leone for meetings with the UN. He added that the language they used to communicate with Liberians was English.
He did not remember how long he stayed in Monrovia, but there wasn’t much to do there: he then returned to Sierra Leone to have meetings with the UN. He knew that General Opande did not like the fact that Mr Massaquoi was in Liberia, even though he had said he was in Makeni. This trip to Liberia was meant to be his final one, but the RUF delegation returned to Monrovia in May 2001 for the Abuja II negotiations. Mr Massaquoi was part of this delegation and they travelled to Nigeria via Monrovia. The Abuja II agreement affected the RUF’s situation in Sierra Leone, as the agreement stipulated that the RUF was allowed to participate in Sierra Leone’s politics. The delegation returned from Abuja straight to Freetown and on the next day, they began negotiations between the UN, Sierra Leonean government and RUF on disarmament.
Mr Massaquoi stated that after the Abuja II negotiations in May, he visited Liberia only once in June 2001 to recover his personal belongings and a vehicle Issa Sesay had purchased for the delegation. This trip took two days at the very end of June, he returned during the first days of July to Sierra Leone. Mr Massaquoi stated that he was afraid for his own security, as Superman had been killed because President Taylor had learned that Superman went to the US embassy, plotting against him. As Superman had been Mr Massaquoi’s friend in the RUF, Mr Massaquoi did not want to be associated with the alleged plan against President Taylor, especially since Superman had been his ally in the RUF internal fight between Issa Sesay and Sam Bockarie. Mr Massaquoi stated that he did not return to Monrovia after this June/July trip.
After his return in July 2001, Mr Massaquoi attended tripartite meetings with various UN organizations around Sierra Leone. According to him, he participated in all monthly tripartite meetings except for the last one, that was about the disarmament of fighters in Kailahun. He represented the RUF in these discussions with the Sierra Leone government and the UN. Mr Massaquoi stated that he lived in Makeni with his family during summer 2001: these included his girlfriend at the time Elizabeth Mansaray, his cousin Defense 10, his son, and various other family members.
Mr Massaquoi was asked about an interview he had given on 13 August 2001 about the release of RUF prisoners. He stated that he remembered the occasion, where the government had promised in a tripartite meeting in July to release many RUF prisoners who had been mostly detained in connection with the May 8 events in Freetown. The RUF was seeking the release of these prisoners, as they formed the RUF’s “political core”. According to Mr Massaquoi, the government gave the RUF a list of the released prisoners the day prior. Upon inspection of the list, they noticed that one third of the released prisoners were common criminals, not RUF members. BBC called Mr Massaquoi and he gave a statement on the issue. Mr Massaquoi stated that he gave the statement from Makeni via satellite phone. He also gave an interview to another program, he could not remember exactly, either Focus on Africa or Network Africa.
Mr Massaquoi was further asked about a piece of written evidence that claims he went to report a fraud to the police in July 2001. He had done so because some people had scammed money from Issa Sesay and Mr Massaquoi’s car. Mr Massaquoi tracked them down and managed to retrieve his car, but not the money. He reported the matter to the police in Freetown and the police came to Makeni to interview him and some additional witnesses.
He also had to go to a police station in August 2001, as a police officer had approached him and others in Freetown looking for foreign currency and minerals and talking about bribes.
In Summer 2001, the RUF was proceeding with the disarmament and coming up with ways to enhance their political presence in Sierra Leone. Mr Massaquoi had issues with Issa Sesay, as the latter claimed that Mr Massaquoi had gone to Tongo Field’s diamond mines and encouraged the workers to rebel against Issa Sesay. Mr Massaquoi stated that this was not true, as he had been there in a tripartite meeting, as they had agreed on the disarmament of the mines area. This circumstance, plus the scamming incident, led Mr Sesay to arrest him. Mr Massaquoi stated that he spent one night at Issa Sesay’s place and on the next day, the UN came and released him and airlifted him to Freetown towards the end of October 2001.
After his evacuation to Freetown, Mr Massaquoi moved to eastern Freetown, his partner Elizabeth, his children, Defense 10, Kallon, and a month or two later (in 2002) they were joined by Michael Bona, who came to study in the capital. Mr Massaquoi also explained that Elizabeth Mansaray and Defense 13 were two different persons: Defense 13 was his girlfriend in Monrovia, but that he then met later in Freetown. Elizabeth was “with him” since Makeni and came to live with him in Freetown. Mr Massaquoi told the court that he met with Defense 13 often after she had arrived in Freetown.
Before the evacuation, Mr Massaquoi was in Makeni working as the RUF’s spokesman, giving statements to the media and writing letters – however, after the evacuation, he did not perform these tasks anymore. The RUF was becoming a political party.
The disarmament ended in December 2001, and in January 2002, the president of Sierra Leone declared that the war had ended. Mr Massaquoi also writing his book around that time and prepared a project with the National Council on Disarmament, the NCDDR [National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration]. He had begun writing the book in 1999 in Lunsar and continued with the work in Freetown. He began writing the project for the NCDDR in 2002, around July.
The RUF was being transformed into a political party: they were registering and recruiting candidates for parliamentary or municipal elections. Mr Massaquoi himself even registered as a parliamentary candidate for the RUF party, called RUFP [Revolutionary United Front Party]. He also described the internal disagreements they had regarding the financing of the activities of the party: many people, including the defendant, got angry when they were told they needed money – “what happened to our mineral reserves”? Gibril Massaquoi “kicked a chair and walked out”. Alongside him, Mike Lamin, Omrie Golley, and others left too. He could not remember exactly when this happened, around March or April – he withdrew his candidacy after that meeting and gave a copy of the letter he wrote to the Electoral Commission to the press. Before this, from late 2001 to 2002, he had been campaigning for a relative of his, Defense 18, in the paramount chief elections of the Gallinas chiefdom. He had assisted the campaign in various ways, such as holding meetings and acting as a secretary for the campaign.
When asked about his relationship with the “old” RUF leadership, the defense mentioned a car attack, which is part of the written evidence. Mr Massaquoi explained that the meeting stated earlier was the reason why he parted ways with RUFP, and that when he left the meeting, his vehicle got attacked by one of Mr Sesay’s bodyguards. He reported it to the police.
Mr Massaquoi was asked about the NCDDR project. He stated that it was a fishing project he had pitched to the NCDDR in 2002, and it had been approved. The project consisted of the training of 100 former fighters, so that they could provide for themselves. Despite the approval in late 2002, the money had not arrived. He had been informed in early 2003 that he needed to open an account for the money to be transferred. He stated he opened the account and gave the NCDDR all the necessary details for the transfer to take place.
When asked, Mr Massaquoi reiterated his place of residence in summer 2002, and who he lived with. He specified that he also lived with his adopted daughter, who had been born in Liberia. He had sent Defense 21 to fetch her from Liberia when the situation there had worsened, in summer 2002. Mr Massaquoi also mentioned that Defense 13 came to Freetown in 2001 and that they have a son together, born in July 2001. Mr Massaquoi visited Defense 13 and their son frequently in Freetown. He also got engaged and married with Elizabeth Mansaray. He could not remember the exact date but stated that it was in July 2002. Mr Massaquoi also described the interviews he gave to the Sierra Leonean Truth and Reconciliation Commission in July and the interviews he gave to the Special Court’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP). He stated that his co-operation with the OTP began via the Human Rights Watch and this organization’s head for West Africa, Corinne Dufka. They met multiple times in 2001 and 2002. After a while, Mr Massaquoi agreed to meet with the Special Court’s prosecutor and various other people, such as the Head Investigator Dr Alan White, and the Chief Prosecutor, David Crane.
Mr Massaquoi stated that his cooperation with the OTP worked well, and they signed a “conservation agreement” in October 2002. After the first meeting in July 2002, he gave them statements and notes throughout the year 2002 and into 2003: some of them written prior to the meetings, other he wrote in the meetings at the request of the OTP. According to Mr Massaquoi, he was always available when the OTP called him. After the agreement was signed, they would sometimes call him regularly to make sure “he was ok” and sometimes they “would take me out for a couple of drinks.” The defense asked Mr Massaquoi to provide more information on the witness protection agreement that was submitted into written evidence. According to Mr Massaquoi’s point of view, the agreement stated that he was to work for them – and if at any point he wanted to quit, he would have withdrawn from the contract. It also stated that as he was involved with this arrangement, he could not engage in any criminal activity. Additionally, he also received protection for his family: “Me and my family would be protected if I testified in court about RUFs […] I got that protection because I had spoken for the RUF, I had been a spokesperson for the RUF. I had been involved in the transportation of those diamonds.”
Mr Massaquoi then described the manner in which he was taken into the Special Court’s safe house. There had been a previous incident involving the money meant to purchase the RUFP’s party house and there was uncertainty between him and Issa Sesay and Morris Kallon as to whether they would get the money back. Mr Massaquoi had agreed to meet with Mr Sesay and Mr Kallon and passed the information about the meeting to the OTP. As Mr Massaquoi went to the meeting to discuss the situation with the money, the OTP entered the building and arrested everyone there. Mr Massaquoi was taken to another room and released, while Issa Sesay and Morris Kallon were detained by the Special Court. The next night, Mr Massaquoi and his family were taken to the safe house handled by the Witness and Victim Support Unit (WVS), in Pipeline.
Mr Massaquoi stated that he entered the safe house on March 10, 2003, and stayed there until 2004 when they changed the location of the safe house. All of the security guards, with the exception of one, were staying overnight: one would be inside, and two were posted outside. Every evening and every morning they would take new shifts, the building was under constant surveillance. It was also was surrounded by a fence with barbed wire. For additional safety, so that the people at the safe house didn’t have to leave to buy food, they also provided them with a cook, who bought groceries.
Mr Massaquoi stated that he could not leave the house freely: there was one entry way, which was always guarded, and he could only leave the house when the OTP would inform the WVS that they wanted to see him: these were the only times he went outside. According to Mr Massaquoi, the guards were keeping a logbook where they marked his presence at every shift. Mr Massaquoi stated that the security measures were so strict because of the safety of himself and his family: they were constantly threatened by former RUF fighters and AFRC members due to Mr Massaquoi’s cooperation with the Special Court.
When asked whether this threat to him and his family’s security ever materialised while they were in the safe house, Mr Massaquoi mentioned that in 2005, when they were at the third safe house, the building got attacked. As he was praying at night, his brother came to say that something was going on at the main door. As they entered the living room, they saw a glass door had been broken and they could hear two men fighting. The whole family went to a room and Mr Massaquoi called the head of WVS, Saleem Vahidy. After a while one of the security guards came to the backyard and called for the family. He entered the room and said that men with knives had attacked the house. They piled some furniture against the fence and escaped to the neighbouring property before the police arrived. After the attack, there were armed policemen at the safe house around the clock until they were relocated into another safe house.
Mr Massaquoi was also asked to describe how his co-operation with the OTP looked like while he was in the safe house. He said that the co-operation continued similarly to the previous one: the OTP would call the WVS and tell them that they needed to meet Mr Massaquoi. Then a guard was sent to the safe house to pick Mr Massaquoi up. OTP would also call Mr Massaquoi’s personal cell phone and let him know that they would like to see him. Usually this was about an hour before the meeting was supposed to take place. One day Mr Massaquoi was also asked to identify the picture of Sam Bockarie’s body from a computer, which he confirmed. Mr Massaquoi also stated that he was not allowed to travel, except for his daughter’s funeral in Bo in 2005, which he did alongside security guards. When asked about 2003, Mr Massaquoi reiterated that besides going to the OTP and to the WVS office, neither him nor the security guards left the safe house.
Mr Massaquoi stated that he testified in the AFRC trial in 2005. He left the safe house for good in 2008 when himself and his family were relocated to Finland. Between 2003 and 2005 nobody was allowed to visit them in the safe house, but after his testimony in 2005, Mr Massaquoi agreed with Saleem Vahidy that his family members and relatives could visit them in the safe house, but the visits had to be approved by the WVS beforehand.
Mr Massaquoi also described how he sent various press releases to media in Sierra Leone when he was the RUF’s spokesman. He was also asked to clarify some details about some of the press releases admitted as written evidence by the defense and to describe the number of interviews he gave on the phone, and if he had given an incorrect location to the journalists. Mr Massaquoi stated that only once he gave the incorrect location, which was to BBC, when General Opande found out that he was not in Sierra Leone. Mr Massaquoi was also asked about the letter he had written to the Nigerian President Obasanjo about satellite phones to the RUF. Mr Massaquoi explained that President Obasanjo had promised to deliver satellite phones to the RUF as they had had issues communicating: the satellite phones were meant for the RUF’s use in Sierra Leone, as they only had one satellite phone in their headquarters in Makeni.
Mr Massaquoi stated that his radio name was Gaffa. After the Lomé peace process, Sankoh assigned new code names and Mr Massaquoi was called Wildfire. In addition to that, he had nicknames: “Gibou” was the main one, but also Major Wahid also called him “Postmaster” – however, he denied ever having a war name, just radio names: “My only name is Gibril Massaquoi”.
He never witnesses violence in Liberia. The roads in Lofa were peaceful when the delegation was driving through the county. Mr Massaquoi never witnessed any violence or looting in Monrovia. He stated that he had no motive to fight in Liberia as he was in the country for peace: “When you’re negotiating for peace, you can’t be fighting in another country.” He also stated that while some individuals in the RUF might have opposed the peace process, they were reported to the UN.
Mr Massaquoi also explained a paper note found from the Vantaa prison where had been detained. He mentioned that he had written the note. He stated that he had written it because he was under the impression that his lawyer could not gather all the evidence to support his case. Everything in the note was true, it did not contain any lies. When asked why he had to refresh the witness’ memory on certain things, Mr Massaquoi stated that it could have been possible that his lawyers at the time could not have been able to gather the evidence presented in the trial so far: he was under the impression that his lawyers were not up to the task. The Finnish head of investigation, Mr Thomas Elfgren, come to meet him in the prison and asked him why he had fired his lawyer and hired the current defense attorney. The head of investigation also said that the current defense lawyer had never won a case like this, and that Paula Sallinen is a “recent graduate, and does not know what she is doing.”
The prosecution will question Mr Massaquoi the following day.
