May 9, 2023 [Liberia] Day 50: Former RUF members heard
Witness Defense 20 is heard
The defense questions Defense 20
The defense began by asking Defense 20 where he had first met Gibril Massaquoi. Defense 20 testified that she got to know Gibril Massaquoi in Kailahun District at the beginning of the war. They were both members of the RUFP, Massaquoi was the spokesman and the witness was in charge of children’s education. She could not recall exactly when they met.
The witness described the RUF’s work with ECOWAS. Gibril Massaquoi and Kposowa were delegation leaders and they had a lot of tripartite negotiations in different countries. She testified: “in RUF he was one of the most educated man. Gibril went to school and he knew how to speak English well”. He was sent to meetings and tripartite negotiations with different people. These tripartite negotiations were held in late 2002 in Abuja and around Sierra Leone. The witness sometimes went to some meetings.
The Abuja agreement was a ceasefire between the RUF and the SLPP government. It was signed at the ECOWAS building, in Abuja, Nigeria on 10 November 2000. Defense 20 was there with Massaquoi. They travelled to Abuja by going from Kono to Kailahun, and then from Foya by helicopter to Springfield, Monrovia. They were received by Nigerian ECOWAS staff and taken to Abuja. They walked from Kono to Kailahun, which took three to four days. They were in Abuja for about a month. When they left Nigeria, they went back to the headquarters in Kono. The day after arriving in Abuja, they began working with ECOWAS. They discussed a lot of different things there, they were advised by the President, who said that their leader should be sent to a French country.
The delegation consisted of herself, Gibril Massaquoi, Mr. Kposowa, Pa Benda, Defense 11 and others. Defense 20 testified that she saw Massaquoi every day in Abuja, they were staying in the same hotel. They took the same route back, from Abuja by helicopter to Roberts Airfield and from there to Foya airstrip. From Foya, they continued to Kailahun and Kono. All the members of the delegation returned to Kono together, they had tripartite meetings in Kono, Makeni, Lunsar and Freetown.
The witness testified that she met Massaquoi in Freetown after the Abuja trip, in Kington. His wife was also staying there. This was in 2002, when there was already peace. Defense 20 often saw Massaquoi in Freetown in 2002. She would stay overnight at his place, they were scared in Freetown as they had just come out of the bush. She first saw him in Kington. Later, when she was in Kailahun, she heard that he had been attacked and had moved to a yellow house. The witness did not know where it was located, she was told about it as a secret. She also met with him at the Special Court. She went there every day after the war, they called her and she went. Defense 20 testified that she was working for the court. The reason that Massaquoi went to the Special Court was a secret. According to the witness, all RUF members were called to the Special Court: “Some people were going to defend, some were going to prosecute.” She testified that in 2002, when Massaquoi was in Kington, he was not working. He had told her that some people had rented the house for him. She testified that: “We had so many secret jobs to do, the Special Court was there”. At the time of the RUFP, Defense 20 was in charge of the schools that had been set up in the areas liberated by the RUF. They had schools in the bush, where people were hiding, they were open in the mornings when there was fighting going on.
The prosecution questions Defense 20
The prosecution began by asking when the war in Sierra Leone began. The witness testified that it began on 3 March 1991. She could not recall when the RUFP was founded. She explained that she was one of the people who signed the creation of the RUFP. She could not recall exactly when this was, but it was after the ceasefire. Before that, the RUF was a military organization fighting the Sierra Leonean government, it was a “rebel government” from 1991 to 1996.
Besides Abuja, Defense 20 recalled meeting with the Nigerian president with Massaquoi. He invited them to dinners and meetings to discuss peace in Sierra Leone. There were two meetings in Abuja, this was Abuja I. As for meetings that she attended with Massaquoi, the witness mentioned the tripartite negotiations in Makeni and Kono. There were white people there, the UN was there. The witness attended some, but not all, of the meetings. Massaquoi participated in all RUF meetings, because he was the most educated out of them all and he would inform the media . These meetings were in 2000. She testified that many meetings were held in Abuja and other countries, Charles Taylor didn’t want them to be in Liberia because he had already been accused of looking after the Sierra Leoneans.
The witness confirmed that she met Massaquoi after the war in Freetown, in Kington. They met at his home, where he lived with his wife and children. She did not ask who owned the house or why he was living there. She would go there at night, wake up early and leave for meetings. She did not notice whether there were any guards at the house and stated that “I did not look for that, when we moved from the bush everyone had his own secret”. Later she heard that Massaquoi had flown out of the country. She was told that he had been attacked and was flown out of the country. She did not see him after the attack, she had only heard that he had moved to a yellow house. During her meetings at the Special Court, the witness saw Massaquoi within the large, fenced area of the building, not inside a courtroom. They did not speak to each other as people were working for different parties. This was in 2002. There were different people at the Special Court, and the Court told them not to talk amongst themselves. They didn’t want anybody to interfere.
After her questioning, the Defense 20 asked to address the court. She stated: “Gibril Massaquoi, as I know him, was the most educated young man. The commanders of education were not equipped so the revolution needed to get information out about us, good or bad. So, the revolution secured him because he gave the message to the world. Our father used to love him because he’s bold and clever. Whenever we were in meetings he talked to people gently. Some turned out not to love him because Sankoh loved him. We called him Mr. Peace. He goes everywhere where peace is so I called him Mr. Savior. That is all I have to say”.
Witness Defense 10 is heard
The defense questions Defense 10
The defense began by asking how Defense 10 had gotten to know Gibril Massaquoi. The witness testified that he has known him since childhood, they lived close by. Defense 10 is a year older than him. In 1999, the witness worked as a radio operator for the RUF. He was stationed in Port Loko, Lunsar, under Defense 01. Gibril Massaquoi was arrested in 1999 and released from Pademba Road Prison by the West Side Boys on 6 January 1999. After his release, he went to Lunsar, where Superman arranged security for him. He began doing PR. The witness was in Lunsar at the time, and was assigned to him. He and Gibril Massaquoi travelled between Makeni and Lunsar, the headquarters were in Makeni. The witness testified that he went with Gibril Massaquoi wherever he went. They had a radio and a satellite phone which they brought with them. Defense 10 was responsible for them, he kept them next to him when he slept, and security guards watched over him and the devices.
The witness testified that Issa Sesay became the leader of the RUF once Foday Sankoh was no longer the leader. Issa was a battlefield commander. Mosquito was also a commander for a while, but he left. When Gibril Massaquoi was released from prison in 1999, Foday Sankoh was the leader of the RUF. Sankoh was arrested in Abuja, Nigeria and was communicating with Issa that the peace process must continue, because the initial 1996 peace agreement did not hold. The Lomé peace agreement was signed on 7 July 1999. At the time, Gibril Massaquoi was with Defense 10. He was appointed by Superman to participate in the negotiations. He went through Guinea to Lomé and spent two weeks there. After Lomé, Foday Sankoh returned to Freetown. Gibril Massaquoi left Lunsar and went to work as a personal assistant to Foday Sankoh in Freetown.
Defense 10 explained that the radio was at everybody’s disposal, while the satellite phone was only for Massaquoi’s use. He would carry the satellite phone around and if there was a message for Masaquoi, he would find him to pass on the message. This was in Lunsar, where Massaquoi was travelling. The radio and the satellite phone were kept in the same place, where the witness slept. Massaquoi was often called often by the media, about skirmishes or battles, once a month or every two months.
The witness testified that after the May 8 attack, some commanders went to Makeni while Gibril went through to bush to meet them in Lunsar. Defense 10 began working as a radio operator for the RUF in 1996. He worked for Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, Superman and Gibril Massaquoi. He stopped working for him during disarmament in 2001. After the attack on 8 May, Defense 10 continued to work as Massaquoi’s radio operator. After the attack, Issa Sesay called a general meeting with all the commanders. They decided to continue with the peace process as some of the men did not want to fight anymore. They decided to contact UNAMSIL and to appoint Gibril into the external delegation.
Defense 10 explained that Massaquoi moved to Freetown after the peace process had been put back on track. The witness went with him, they were taken by air in a UN helicopter. The reason for this airlift was an internal conflict within the RUF. Gibril had told them not to attack UNAMSIL, everyone grabbed guns, including Gibril who had to defend himself. This happened in Makeni, at the Defense HQ. The conflict was between Issa Sesay and Gibril Massaquoi, as Issa said that he did not take orders from Massaquoi. Massaquoi had told Issa that they wanted the peace process to stay on track.
The witness further testified that he and Massaquoi were present at all the tripartite meetings. Gibril was a representative for the RUF. Defense 10 was not involved in the actual meetings. He stayed outside and listened to the radio and helped the representatives use it if necessary. His radios were used to pass information about the meetings. The witness could not recall when the tripartite meetings began, but the first one was held in Kambia District before disarmament. Defense 10 estimated that he was involved in five meetings in total over the period of five to six months. He listed the locations that these meetings were held in. In addition to the tripartite meetings, Massaquoi was involved in the peace process by talking to people about these issues, he would go from battalion to battalion. The witness did not go with him on these trips. He was not there when Gibril was attacked in Segbwema and could not say when this attack occurred. According to Defense 10, Gibril was attacked and robbed.
Defense 10 testified that Massaquoi’s first code name was Gaffa and it was later changed to Wild Fire. The code names were changed because the enemy was watching. The witness was aware of Massaquoi’s cooperation with the Special Court for Sierra Leone. One morning, Gibril Massaquoi left for town, and returned late with the UN police. Gibril told Defense 10 and others not to be afraid, he was being taken to a safe house. The witness recalled that this was on 10 March 2002. He did not see Massaquoi after that. The witness never visited him at the safe house, but Michael Bona used to come and bring food for them.
The prosecution questions Defense 10
The prosecution began by asking Defense 10 when he stopped working as Massaquoi’s radio operator. The witness testified that he stopped in 2001 right after disarmament, when he handed over all his equipment to UNAMSIL. He estimated that this took place in early 2001, around January. All the equipment was given to UNAMSIL, including radios, solar panels and all the satellite phones the RUF had.
The witness testified that he was with Massaquoi from 1999 until 2002, they lived in the same house. When Massaquoi left the witness in Lunsar and went to Freetown to work as Foday Sankoh’s assistant in 2000, he took the satellite phone with him. The witness confirmed that the only time Massaquoi had the satellite phone to himself was when he was working as Foday Sankoh’s assistant. He explained that there was an internal struggle within the RUF, and UN peacekeepers had been taken hostage before the 8 May 2000 attack. Issa Sesay, Augustine Gbao and other senior commanders were there. The witness could not say whether Massaquoi had a satellite phone at his disposal after disarmament, as they were not together. After disarmament in January 2001, Defense 10 and Massaquoi came to Freetown together as a family. Gibril rented a place from Thunder Hills and the witness was living there with him. He lived there from January 2001 to 10 March 2002, when Massaquoi was taken to the safe house. During that time, the witness didn’t see Massaquoi with a satellite phone.
Defense 10 testified that Gibril was appointed to the external delegation and went to Liberia to negotiate about peace. He had talks with ECOWAS, the President of Mali, the UN, and others. This was during the rainy season in 2000. The witness did not know whether Gibril went to Liberia when they were living together in Freetown from January 2001. He did not know if he had a girlfriend in Liberia. The witness knew Defense 13, he had known her in Sierra Leone before she and Gibril started dating. He did not know whether Defense 13 had been to Monrovia. The prosecution pointed out that Defense 10 had testified in the lower court that Massaquoi went to Liberia in 2001 to pick up his girlfriend Defense 13. The witness did not remember saying so. There was further discussion as to what Defense 10 had previously testified about seeing Massaquoi go to Liberia to pick up Defense 13 and a child.
The witness was at the house when UNAMSIL came to pick Massaquoi up and take him to the safe house. Michael Bona was also living there. When Gibril was paid money, Michael Bona came to bring them some, he was supporting them. The witness repeated that he had never gone to visit Gibril at the safe house. He had heard about an attack on the safe house and went there to look for them. When he got there, the guards told him said that they had been attacked and had moved.
Defense 10 testified that he had a satellite phone during the tripartite meetings. After disarmament, peace was declared very quickly. They gave up their supplies, President Tejan Kabbah declared that the war was over and it ended.
Question from the court
The court asked the witness to confirm when the war ended, referring to a previous witness who had testified that he had disarmed in December 2001. Defense 10 maintained that he was disarmed in early 2001 and peace came shortly after. The court also asked him to confirm the year when Massaquoi moved to the safe house, referring to previous witnesses that testified that this occurred in 2003. The witness maintained that it was in 2002, he had been living with Massaquoi for about a year and had written everything down in a notebook.