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SIERRA LEONE: Funds Sought to Finish War Crimes Trials

Elisabeth Schreinemacher

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 5 2005 (IPS) - A special criminal court trying those charged with war crimes in Sierra Leone will run out of money next year unless some 25 million dollars is raised to keep it running.

At a U.N. pledging conference held last week, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette urged countries to give generously.

“By doing so,” she said, “states will make clear that those who commit heinous crimes against international law, wherever they may be, must be held accountable.”

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was established in January 2002 by an agreement between the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone.

Its mandate is to prosecute “persons who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law” committed in the country since Nov. 30, 1996, the date of the Abidjan Peace Agreement between the government of Sierra Leone and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

The conflict was one of the region’s most brutal, involving widespread rape, amputation of limbs, and other atrocities against civilians.

The SCSL was funded by voluntary contributions until the end of 2004. In June 2005, the U.N. General Assembly appropriated 20 million dollars to supplement the Court’s financial resources for the first six months of this year, and authorised another 13 million dollars to meet expenses for the second half of 2005.

Starting on Jan. 1, 2006, the Court will revert to voluntary contributions. According to Robert Vincent, the court’s registrar, 25 million dollars will be needed to finance its activities next year.

“We have seen a tremendous amount of support today, so we are very hopeful that we will approach that amount in the coming weeks and months,” he said at the pledging conference.

In addition to the European Commission, 14 U.N. member states have already made pledges of up to nine million dollars.

The biggest pledge – 3.5 million dollars – came from Britain, followed by Canada with 1.7 million dollars and The Netherlands with 1.2 million dollars. Other countries that made pledges during the conference are Denmark, Australia, Belgium, Norway, Turkey, Finland, Germany, Italy, Greece and Sweden.

Vincent noted that the United States has also been one of the biggest contributors and supporters of the Special Court, having already given a total of 22 million dollars.

“And we fully expect the United States to again be the major contributor to this Court,” he said. “We already have an indication that they will be contributing this year.”

Although 11 defendants have been indicted, two key suspects are still missing – Johnny Paul Koroma and Charles Taylor. Koroma is the former leader of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and Taylor is the former president of neighbouring Liberia..

Taylor, who faces 17 charges related to supporting the insurgency and providing arms and training to the RUF, is being protected by the government of Nigeria, which refuses to surrender him.

Desmond Silva, the chief prosecutor, stated that, “At the moment we can only operate diplomatically, because the Court… do(es) not have any power to compel Nigeria to surrender Mr. Taylor.”

According to Silva, the Court is likely to fulfill its task within the next 18 months.

Daudi Ngelautwa Mwakawago, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, said at a press conference last week that the United Nations has largely met the security goals it set out to achieve six years ago.

Once 17,000-strong, the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone is now down to 2,000 troops. Since peace was consolidated in 2002, the government has disarmed 70,000 combatants, and nearly 9,500 police have been trained and equipped.

Mwakawago told IPS, “What is important from all the accounts and publicity the proceedings have received in the country is that the question of impunity is now being challenged, which is a significant contribution of the Court.”

Another pledging conference for Sierra Leone will be held in London at the end of November. The United Nations estimates the country needs 1.7 billion dollars to begin tackling issues like poverty and corruption.

Mwakawago expressed concern about the 40 percent unemployment rate and 70 percent illiteracy rate, especially among young people, many of whom were caught up in the civil war.

“We cannot continue peacekeeping – we need peace-building now,” Mwakawago said. “So my opinion is that the country is ready now for the next phase of development.”

Press freedom is another burning issue in Sierra Leone with the government’s jailing of journalist Paul Kamara, who was accused of “seditious libel” for articles criticising President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

Kamara was convicted on Oct. 5, 2004 and sent to Pademba Road Prison in the capital of Freetown to serve a two-year sentence. Local and international press freedom groups have repeatedly called for his release.

“President Kabbah’s government should not hold Paul Kamara in prison one day longer,” said Ann Cooper, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. “Sierra Leone is one of the very few countries in Africa that has sentenced a journalist to prison for doing his work. This is not what one expects to see in a democratic country.”