Special Court revelations.

How 150 houses were burnt down at Fadugu

Thursday August 8, 2005

Tamba Borbor reports from Freetown

Special Court, prosecution witness TF1-326 during her examination-in-chief has disclosed that after the second attack by the rebels in Fadugu, a total of 150 houses were burnt down.

The witness told the Court that in May 1998, they were attacked by rebels who forced them to flee into the bush and that they were later advised by ECOMOG troops to go back to the village, which they did. On their return, the witness said, they were attacked and as they were trying to escape, she was shot on the left foot. This she said made her return to the village with her two children and went in one house where she met two boys hiding under a bed. It was later she said she saw a rebel who demanded the keys of a drawer but she told them that she was not the owner of the house and that she does not have the keys to the drawer.

The rebel the witness narrated, forcefully opened the drawer and took some money, jewellery and clothing. The 45-year -old woman who was giving her evidence in Krio said the rebels took her gold earrings and chain and her 8year old son was asked to join them but she pleaded to them because her foot had been shot.

This made them to release him. “It was not too long when I saw fire. My son then went out to see what was set ablaze, and he returned to tell me that a car had been set on fire. Then I asked him to take the child so that they would hide in the toilet. I then managed to crawl to the toilet where we stayed as the rebels came around burning houses. The owner of the house came out crying that they had burnt his house and for this he was given a severe beating by the rebels.”

Continuing, the witness said, ” I came out of the toilet and it was not long after that my husband came and took me into a house. On our way, we saw the corpses of Kaloko who was a teacher, his brother Johnny and Mamie Satta all in the street. After three days my husband took me to the Makeni Government Hospital, because my foot had gone bad. Dr. Baker amputated it.”

TF1-326 narrated that after her operation they returned to Fadugu in August and at the end of the month there was another attack where the Paramount Chief, Alimamy Fanneh II was killed after he had been shot. A mattress was set on fire and placed on his corpse. A woman together with her child who also came from Kabala to pass the night at Fadugu were burnt to death. She stated that after the rebels had gone they went around the village and they counted 150 houses, which were burnt down.

LEGAL SCHOLAR DECRIES POLITICAL PROSTITUTION IN SIERRA LEONE

Monday May 30, 2005

Sierra Leonean- born legal scholar, Mr. Alimamy Sesay , has decried the rate of political prostitution in the country as prospective contestants crank the pressure for the 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections .

Speaking at Leonenet-TAMU over the weekend, Mr. Alim Sesay lamented that because of the high rate of prostitution in the political arena in Sierra Leone, nobody knows who is legally married to the SLPP, APC, NUP , Sorbeh and the National Alliance Democratic Party.

He regretted the recycyling of politicians , quipping : “In Sierra Leone, goods that are of no merchantable quantity are never dumped; they are recycled even when they are clinically dead or medically blind.”

He cited as example the case of Dr. S.S. Banya, who served under the APC and is now a top member of the SLPP, though many Sierra Leoneans consider him as one of the most useless politicians in the country.

Mr.Sesay described our politicians as rogues raping the fortunes of our people and he thought it was time to face them individually .”We have nothing to lose, except our hypocrisy” , he went on.

Alim Sesay is a human rights lawyer , Immigration practitioner and PH.D candidate in Law .