A former correspondent of Radio France International and Reuter’s news agency has taken the stand against former Liberian president Charles Taylor in The Hague.

	• Ex- Pres. Charles Taylor in court

Stephen Smith who covered both civil wars in Sierra Leone and in Liberia said he was humiliated by Taylor’s forces and later expelled from Liberia by Taylor himself.

The prosecution witness, who is now a professor at the Duke University in the United States, is testifying to his knowledge of the civil wars in the two neighbouring countries.

He told the court that he covered “all sides” of the war in Liberia from Samuel K. Doe to Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson whose Independent National Patriotic Front killed then president Doe.

Following initial objection by the defence to the first part of Smith’s testimony, which they said had no relevance to the prosecution’s indictment because it happened outside the mandate of the court, the judges upheld the objection and asked prosecution lawyer Mohammed Bangura to confine himself to the framework of the indictment.

Mr Smith continued with his testimony saying the war in Sierra Leone was an offshoot of the Liberian one.

“This connection was self-evident…You could see the conflict in Sierra Leone being spawned by the conflict in Liberia” he said, adding “you could see some of the same faces, people you had been meeting in Liberia … Sam Bockarie and Foday Sankoh – you would see the same people [in Sierra Leone]”.

Smith said that even some Lebanese nationals he had seen in Mr Taylor’s entourage in Liberia he also saw in Sierra Leone.

During an interview he had with Mr Taylor in Paris in November 2000, Smith said, the former Liberian president described the war in Sierra Leone as “a war for diamonds” and blamed it on Britain’s desire for diamonds.

Under cross-examination, Smith said the late former RUF battlefield commander Sam Bockarie lived in Liberia; an account denied by defence lawyer Terry Munyard who said that Bockarie went to Monrovia as part of Taylor’s mediatory role in the Sierra Leone conflict.

This Mr. Smith challenged, saying Bockarie belonged to the faction which still wanted war in Sierra Leone and decided to go to Liberia.

Munyard challenged the witness saying Bockarie did not continue to wage war on Sierra Leone from Liberia. Smith fired back saying, “I think that would be an impugn statement by many analysts because precisely if you still refer to the timeline you would see that after coming to Monrovia and after the split the peace process in Sierra Leone did not go smoothly.”

According to the November 2000 interview Mr. Smith had with Mr Taylor, which was read out in court, the war crimes indictee admitted that the RUF committed terrible atrocities and suggested that the RUF be a part of the solution to war in Sierra Leone.

Courtesy: BBC World Service Trust

‘Issakaba’s Victim Explains Ordeal
By George J. Borteh

Though activities of the “Issakaba boys” have seemingly subsided, the aftermath of their actions still linger on the minds of those who have had to personally experience their wrath.

Some time ago, marauding criminals as they had been noted, the “Issakaba boys” subjected residents of Monrovia and its environs to unprecedented waves of criminality, terrorizing them at day time and night with machetes and raiding homes.

Most people referred to them as desperate, unreasonable and hardcore criminals who killed and even struck without regard to human lives and dignity.
Now, a victim of the madness of the Issakabas has been rehearsing, explaining his ordeal.

Currently in the United States of America undergoing medical treatment, as a result of wounds sustained at the hands of the Issakabas, Colonel Momolu Dorley, former Director of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) is thanking God for not having died at their hands.

According to him, during the early part of this year, cutlass-brandishing men of Issakaba attacked the Duala Community, wounding him severely.

He alleged that the group of men burst his door open, instantly attacking him and demanding that he produces ‘something’ as ransom to spare his life.

“I was between life and death. The gangsters used cutlasses against me that resulted to severe bruises all over my body,” he recalled.

Mr. narrated that during the incident which occurred midnight, the criminals threatened to kill him because he was one of those former officials of government been hunted by them to kill.

Through intervention of the divine, he revealed that members of the vigilante group in the Duala community managed to rescue him and arrested some of its members who were subsequently turned over to officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP).

Further explaining his ordeal to The Analyst in a communication, copy of which is in its possession, the former MCC recalled that during the arrest, some identification cards were found in the possession of the Issakaba boys.

He said the ID cards bore the appellation of the Issakaba members with inscriptions written on them as partisans of the National Patriotic Party (NPP).
“They were members and supporters of the NPP.

They were partisans of the former ruling party of the former Liberian president, Charles G. Taylor”, added.

He furthered that the ‘Issakabba group that attacked him were all former combatants of the defunct National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) who were later released by the police following investigations.

However, an official of the NPP has denied knowledge of any event of such nature implicating members of the party, noting that the act by the criminals may have been an orchestration designed to meet political objectives of selfish individuals.