by Ross, Hamish
By the way, the communication system and the solar power panels at all RUF positions in the country were installed by a captured Russian sea captain. His coastal tanker was supplying fuel to the probably illegally operating fishing trawler off the coast of Sierra Leone. He and his hand, a Ghanaian seaman, went ashore on the coast of Sulima, not far from the Liberian border. There were different stories of why they went ashore: a) they had technical problems with the ship; b) they were looking for food supplies; c) they were going to invite some girls on board. Anyway, they obviously were not aware that the RUF was in that area. Both were taken hostage and later released to the ICRC at river Moa, the same location where we left captivity.
Thanks to Roger Graf we had the radio frequency of the Panguma Sawmill office in Freetown. Foday Sankoh allowed us to establish contact. It was great to talk to our old colleague, Joe Blume, on the radio. Our families at home were relieved to hear that we were alive.
Halfway through our time at Camp Zagoda, we had a surprise visit from a Ghanaian special envoy to a London based NGO and his RUF bodyguards. I understand the purpose of his visit was to negotiate our release. This NGO was a specialist in this type of conflict solution. He apparently had been in contact with the RUF for some time, and the RUF organized the safe walking trip from Liberia to Camp Zagoda. At the end he had to walk back to Liberia since the Sierra Leone authorities did not allow him to depart from Sierra Leone to Europe because he had not entered the country legally. He took many photographs. One with myself in it I found later in the West Africa Magazine. His visit was a blessing for us. Chocolates and, more important, letters from our folks at home. My wife, Beatrice, was great. Her supportive and positive words were encouraging. To let me know that she was well, she included her ski-lift tickets of the previous week’s skiing in areas close to our home in Switzerland, which I knew so well. It was still winter in Europe. I wished I could be there.
Foday Sankoh’s main contacts were Dennis, commander of the RUF troops in Kambia and Mohamed Tarawally at Sierra Rutile. His men at SRL must have had a good time, particularly since the SL army had given up trying to recapture the place. For a long period, electricity was available, as well as food, drinks and fuel for the cars; everything was there, and even the odd girls were around. Foday Sankoh’s plan was to use his Rutile troop for the attack on Freetown. The RUF troops in Kambai had just captured eight catholic foreign nuns, and were controlling the road to Guinea. We had a smile when we heard the permanent excuses of his boys at Rutile about why they could not leave the place, which they obviously had no intention of doing. After a few weeks they finally left, but their move to Freetown was stopped at Newton, 20 miles outside the capital, Freetown.
At the same time, the SL government had engaged the London-based company, J&S Franklin Ltd, to provide mercenary support in the form of Gurkhas under the command of Bob McKenzie. One of their first assignments was to free the eight nuns in Kambia, which ended in a total disaster. Unfortunately, a good friend of mine from the Freetown Hash House Harriers, A D Tarawali, a major in the SL army, was also killed during this exercise.
Still in Camp Zagoda, we were able to witness Foday Sankoh’s strategy. Since Mohamed Tarawally and his troops had to draw back at Newton, Sankoh wanted the Kambia troops to join Tarawally’s troops for the attack on Freetown. The eight nuns were a handicap. Sankoh wanted the release of the nuns within a few hours. He radioed Primo Corvaro, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Freetown to collect the nuns. However, the ICRC required 48 hours to go through all the formalities, which was too long for Sankoh. Through our radio station in Freetown, Sankoh established contact with Bishop Beguzzi. Procedures were agreed on between Sankoh and Bishop Beguzzi, and the eight nuns were collected by the bishop himself and taken to Freetown. They had gone through hell and were traumatized.
Otherwise, there was not much to do and we were desperately waiting for the next steps in our captivity. Once it happened we had to get ready for the next destination, but where it was we didn’t know. A personal handshake from Foday Sankoh and off we went. Even at this stage, he didn’t know my name. It was absolutely advisable to keep a low profile under those circumstances. The Sierra Leonean hostages were given the choice to continue walking with us or stay with Foday Sankoh’s RUF as hostages, not as part of them. I recall that at this time some of us had the so-called ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, named after a hostage situation in Stockholm some years ago, where the hostages, after a while, identified themselves with the ideas of their kidnappers. And some were also of the belief that the RUF would enter Freetown within a month, and this was probably preferable to staying in a refugee camp in Guinea.
We stayed at various RUF camps and deserted villages, but we felt safe because we were in the middle of RUF controlled territory: no more the sounds of Alpha jets or gunfire. The food was getting better every day. We were fed ‘de luxe’; obviously Foday Sankoh wanted to put some lost kilos back on us.
Only after a while, my shoes were slowly falling apart. These were the same shoes I was wearing at the time of being captured in my office. Being creative, with some nails I found in burned down villages and resin from trees, I was able to maintain my shoes and they are now in a cupboard in our home in Switzerland.
We were passing Segbwema, Daru, Pendembu, Kailahun, Buedu and finally Koindu. Preparations were in progress to hand us over to the ICRC at the river Moa, the same location where the Russian sea captain and the Ghanaian seaman were handed over to the ICRC earlier.
When we arrived at the spot, the procedures were formal and professional. We were on the Sierra Leone side of the river while the ICRC delegation was on the Guinean side. A small team of the ICRC came over in canoes. The first person who contacted us was the ICRC medical doctor. All of us were asked the same questions. Have you been tortured? Are you well? How do you feel?
Official handing over protocols were signed by both parties, RUF and ICRC. The responsibility of our welfare was handed over from the RUF to ICRC at this moment. The deal was done and we were canoed across the river Moa. We were free! Only at the other end two Guinean soldiers stopped us and asked us for entry visas and customs declaration. Well, this was solved within seconds.
The ICRC is a very thoughtful organization. My highest respect! Being in the bush for three months, not thinking of women apart from our wives, no beer or other beverages, what did we find in the ICRC vehicles which took us to Conakry? Lady drivers, soft drinks and beer in the boot. I immediately placed myself in the front seat. A beer can was passed on to me and, thanks to the efficient air conditioner of the vehicle, within a few minutes we had our first cold beer in three months. Everybody was happy.
On arriving in Conakry, the official part started again. Everybody was met by his country representative. In my case it was the German Ambassador himself. The first question: have you been tortured? A protocol was signed between the ICRC and the respective country representatives. The responsibility was handed over from ICRC to our national countries. New clothes were waiting for us to make us fit for the return flight to Europe. Later that evening, we boarded an SN-Brussels flight. It was also interesting that the German Ambassador accompanied me all the way to the steps of the plane’s gangway, informing me that, with my first step on the gangway, his responsibility would end and responsibility would be taken over by our employers.
In Conakry when we arrived was also the first time I met Fred, not knowing that we would become close friends after my return to Freetown in October 1995.
The following morning, Sunday, we landed about six o’clock at Brussels airport. Whom did I meet on the tarmac? The German Ambassador to Belgium and his Deputy. First question: how are you, have you been tortured? After confirming that I was all right, I apologized for waking him so early on a Sunday morning, and I wished him a pleasant day. He had done his job.
At the airport hotel we were re-united with our families, and I started a six-months leave. Some of my c
lothes at home, which I had grown out of for some time, suddenly fitted again. However, it didn’t last, and before long I had the lost kilos back on.
After returning to Sierra Leone later in 1995, I travelled across the country and visited some of the places we walked through. I could remember some houses we stayed in quite well, but I never met the people, civilians or RUF again.
I was alive and happy, and I had some wonderful times with Fred and his EO friends later in Freetown.
Rudi Bruns
November 2009.
Appendix II
Comparative Costs: Executive Outcomes,
Sandline, Juba Incorporated and UNAMSIL
Executive Outcomes with fewer than 200 men were in Sierra Leone for about a year and a half. They effectively stopped the rebel war. Sandline’s contract, as a result of international pressure, was not allowed to be fully implemented. Juba Incorporated with 3 men and Bokkie, for five months, were in support of ECOMOG to restructure ECOMOG’s position in Sierra Leone and prepare for the build-up and retaking of Freetown and Sierra Leone from the junta. The UN Security Council Resolution 1270 established UNAMSIL with a peacekeeping force of up to 6,000. It eventually rose to about 17,000.
Comparative Costs
Organization Cost Purpose
Executive Outcomes $31 million USD1 Defeat RUF, create stability.
Sandline $10 million USD2 Train, equip and mentor forces loyal to the government to allow them support ECOMOG in defeating RUF.
Juba Incorporated $1 million USD in 5 months3 Support ECOMOG Forces on all levels to defeat Junta and retake Freetown from rebels.
(UN) UNAMSIL $600 million USD per year4 Ensure security of movement and afford protection to civilians.
Appendix III
Testimony at the SCSL on behalf of Chief
Hinga Norman, General Sir David Richards,
Chief of General Staff, UK
Testimony on behalf of Chief Hinga Norman at the Special Court for Sierra Leone Freetown, Tuesday 21 February 2006. (Legal argument and questions edited for brevity, and overlapping dialogue excluded.)
General Sir David Richards, Chief of the General Staff of the UK
My job at the time was – I think it’s best described as a military troubleshooter. I worked in the headquarters near London whose task was to monitor unstable situations anywhere in the world, one of which was Sierra Leone. As far as London was concerned, in January 1999 all communication with the country appeared to have been severed.
In my trouble-shooting role, I was ordered to go to Sierra Leone to establish what was happening here and to see if there was anything Her Majesty’s government could do to help. I flew to Dakar in Senegal from London. And with a team, a small team of staff officers, and a Royal Navy ship, a frigate was diverted from another task in the West Indies to come and pick me up in Dakar. We then sailed from Dakar, via Conakry, to the Freetown area, off the coast.
There was still very heavy fighting here when I arrived, and we had some trouble establishing communications with anybody here. Our understanding was that ECOMOG was the principal defender of the government, assisted by the Sierra Leone army and the Civil Defence Force, who were acting together to try to push the RUF out of Freetown.
[Question: his coming ashore]
Yes. As I said, there was a lot of fighting and indeed a number of corpses in the water as we approached the coast. And Nigerian Alpha jets were still dropping bombs quite visibly from the ship – we could see this – on, we assumed, RUF positions near Freetown. We had some problems getting ashore safely. But we did so in a helicopter, once we had established communications with ECOMOG forces.
I actually lived on the ship and came ashore daily. For an eight-day period I lived on the ship. But every day we would come ashore to liaise, find out what was happening, and draw up my report for London. And on that first occasion, I remember there was a lot of excitement around, because the RUF were still quite near where I landed, which was in Cockerill Barracks.
I first met General Shelpidi, he was commander of the ECOMOG forces here. He then took me to meet in the cellars of Cockerill Barracks Chief Hinga Norman, very briefly… Well the car park, the garages in the base of Cockerill Barracks, where there was a rudimentary, what we would call a command post [and met there] Chief Norman and Brig General Maxwell Khobe. And that was a brief meeting, but I then went up to see President Kabbah.
[Question: whether he knew who Chief Hinga Norman was at that time] Not really. We had not picked up his role with the country as much as I then discovered it was. So I was more focused on ECOMOG and Brig Gen Khobe at that time on that first day.
[Question: whether he had further encounters with Chief Norman]
Yes. Remember my primary task was to make a military assessment of the situation here in this country. That meant me talking to all the major parties to the crisis on the government side. I had to decide whether to recommend to the British government that Sierra Leone was able to be helped, to be saved, if you like, from a ferocious attack on the capital. So I met everyone, as I said, from the President two or three times in that visit; [I] did a lot of work with ECOMOG, with Brig Gen Khobe who had tactical control of the government forces, and also Chief Hinga Norman who was the Deputy Minister of Defence.
There was one occasion that stands out in my memory. And that was when Gen Khobe took me to observe some fighting on and around a bridge, Congo Cross bridge. That was essentially as far as the RUF reached as they advanced through Freetown from east to the west.
On that occasion, I stood behind some cover, because there was quite a lot of firing going on, with a pair of binoculars, and we watched the government forces who were a mixture of SLA and ECOMOG – a few ECOMOG were there – and CDF. Khobe explained to me that if the RUF got over the bridge, they would then be able to fan out. And there was also an armoury that contained arms and ammunition which they would try to capture.
I observed the government forces successfully stopping the RUF advance and they got across the bridge – the government forces got across the bridge and took some prisoners. I had observed 10, 15 minutes before that, through my binoculars, the killing of some people on the far side of the bridge, the RUF side of the bridge, which everyone had seen from the safe side, if you like. It was clear that the government forces were very excited and angry when they captured the prisoners and I think I remember the atmosphere. It was very dynamic, a lot of shouting, excitement. There were still bodies on the road from the fighting. All this sort of thing. And I saw a group of people go across the bridge to where the prisoners were being held. And I said to Khobe, ‘What are they doing?’ and he said, ‘That’s Chief Norman.’ And I remembered that I had been introduced to him on my first day here. And he remonstrated with the government forces, the group I’d say there were about 10 or 12 of them, who had captured the RUF or AFRC, I don’t know which they were, … I mean, basically the RUF and the AFRC were on one side of the bridge and the government forces on the other. They [government forces] had attacked across the bridge and another group came down the line of the river or stream. And they had – it was a very neat little operation. And they had captured – there was a fight and they had captured some of the RUF.
[Questions: Judges ask details of who was doing what to whom]
Sorry, I misled you. And there were – it is difficult to know but those who were actually holding weapons, guarding the prisoners, were probably about the same number, but there were many more around. And I saw Hinga Norman – well Gen Khobe said, ‘That’s Hinga Norman,’ because I said, ‘What’s he doing?’ and he went up to the group and, through my binoculars and from what I could hear … Hinga Norman went up to the group and remonstrated with them. And it was clear that he was, even from what I could see, telling them that they must behave and stop getting so excited. And they were threatening to shoot these prisoners.
[Judge clarifying it was government forces Chief Norman remonstrated with]
Yes, remonstrat
ed with the government forces who were very excitable. They had seen some unpleasant sights and some of their friends had been killed. So my impression, no more than an impression, was that they wanted to kill or mutilate or do something angry against the prisoners they had taken. And from what I saw, the impression I gained was that Chief Norman prevented that abuse from happening.
[Question: elucidation of abuse]
Yes. I mean, during the fighting I and everyone had seen at least one apparently innocent person killed by the RUF group on the far side of the bridge. They were firing their weapons indiscriminately. And so everyone was very angry. I was very angry. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
[Responding to question]
Yes, I think he was a civilian, sir. He was a male. But they not only – I have to get rather gruesome, if I may. They not only killed him, they then chopped an arm off him. I don’t know what actually led him to die. And we had all seen that happen.
[Responding to question]
It’s only my impression, because I was 200 yards away, but there was a lot of shouting with the group; a lot of pointing at the prisoners and people pointing their rifles at them. And to remind you, there were dead – there were bodies around. So it was a very febrile atmosphere. And the impression I gained was that they were going to dispatch them themselves, because of their anger.