PRESS CONFERENCE BY SIERRA LEONE

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SIERRA LEONE

James 0.C. Jonah, the Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today that in his Government's view, the international media had presented "a rather distorted picture" of events in Sierra Leone in the last few weeks. He wished to correct the record.

On 20 August, upon instruction, Mr. Jonah had sent a letter to the Secretary-General, which he would now update. Not two students but, in fact, seven had been killed in a recent demonstration against the military regime. One out of five students had been arrested, and only 45 were released. Those released were mainly younger students, not college students. Four female students had been detained by the military junta in Freetown. What was most disturbing about their detention was their use as "comfort women" for the senior officers of the junta. "We deplore this", he said, adding that he had brought that to the attention of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) some 12 days ago.

He said the military junta had set out on a "very gruesome plan" -- a plan for genocide. While that might not have been taken seriously to date, there was now "very concrete information of the unfolding of this plan". For example, it was now known that the junta had imported into Sierra Leone a large quantity of landmines. At a time when the world community was trying to ban those weapons, the military junta was busy planting them, resulting in both military and civilian casualties. The civilians were ordinary farmers who had been going about their ordinary business.

Also under the genocide plan, civilians were being used as human shields, Mr. Jonah said. That was a "nefarious act", intended to create the impression that troops of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) were killing civilians. The military junta was deliberately killing civilians and telling the world that they were being killed by ECOMOG troops. Last week, the bodies of civilians were paraded in front of the United Nations office in Freetown. None of those people had been killed by ECOMOG troops; all of them were killed by the junta.

The military junta was also importing poison gas, Mr. Jonah said. It had been confirmed that one of the ships now docked in Freetown was carrying such gas. The genocide plan was well under way, and the victims would be the people of Sierra Leone. It was strange that the illegal regime claimed daily that it was concerned about the civilians and daily blamed ECOMOG for the violence perpetrated against them. In addition, the military junta controlled the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), of which half were children between the ages of 10 and 15 years. Since those children did not wear uniforms, the erroneous conclusion could be made, in a confrontation with ECOMOG, that they were not militia.

Everyone understood that terrorism and terrorists were terrible, yet Freetown housed a military junta composed of terrorists, Mr. Jonah said. Sierra Leoneans were asking themselves where was the international outrage? What was the international community going to do to deal with those terrorists now in Freetown?

Asked when he thought the violence would end and the blaming stop, Mr. Jonah said he did not know. However, for many Sierra Leoneans it was a very simple issue. They had taken risks for democracy. At great pain and suffering, they had gone to the polls to elect a civilian regime. Then a group of terrorists and renegade officers decided to remove that regime. The Secretary-General had said that just to condemn that act was not enough. Yet efforts by the military to remove that illegal regime, as called for by the Security Council and by ECOWAS, had failed.

The Government had been told they could remove the junta "by talking to them", Mr. Jonah said. Three months had been spent "talking" to the junta, and what the result had been was an intensification of criminal activities and a digging-in of heels. Next, his Government had been told that sanctions might work. So ECOWAS passed sanctions. Initially, when ships passed through, some countries complained that ECOMOG was inefficient in not stopping them from getting to Freetown. Now that ECOMOG had taken action to stop those ships, it was criticized by the very same countries who called it inefficient in the implementation of sanctions. It was evident who should be criticized: those who would only fight for democracy when it was convenient for them to do so. "Our people in Sierra Leone were suffering, and suffering very, very seriously."

There was also the "blame game", Mr. Jonah went on to say. Half of the professional class in Freetown or some 90 per cent of the doctors, teachers, and lawyers, were gone. Many of them lived in deplorable conditions in various parts of the subregion. Where was the concern for them? Some were saying that food must be brought to the junta in Freetown. Why not bring food to those who could not eat today? The international reaction was confusing at a time when it needed to be very firm. "But let me leave no doubt in the minds of the world community: Sierra Leoneans will remove this junta. Whatever it takes, we will, by ourselves, remove them, because to wait too long on the international community may only increase the suffering of our people."

"It seems ECOWAS is dragging its feet in removing these boys from power", a correspondent said. With that situation dragging on, how could the Sierra Leoneans mobilize to remove them? Mr. Jonah said that civil defence units all over the country had already come under one umbrella and were waiting to see what ECOWAS would do in terms of using military force to remove the junta. They hoped to avoid a more bloody and gruesome civil war in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leoneans were not going to "play dead" as in Burundi and Gambia, where against a backdrop of sanctions, those regimes had survived.

Sierra Leone Briefing - 3 - 11 September 1997

In Sierra Leone, it would not happen like that, Mr. Jonah said. The civilians were organized. They were trying to avoid a bitter civil war; but without assistance from the world community, they would undertake to do it themselves. The leadership of Nigeria, under President Sani Abacha, had been excellent. Sierra Leoneans had much to be grateful for in that regard. However, the continuation of dialogue would only strengthen the regime in Freetown. It was hoped that in the next few days it would become evident that the struggle had been taken up by the Sierra Leoneans themselves.

A correspondent asked about the threat by the Liberian Government to arrest the leader of the Sierra Leonean militia (the Kamajors), if he tried to mobilize in Liberia -- even though Liberia's President Charles Taylor had expressed support for the restoration of democracy in Sierra Leone. Mr. Jonah said he found President Taylor's statement to be both "ironic and baffling". Yes, the flow of refugees into Liberia was an enormous burden on its people; but, the problem of Sierra Leone had begun with Liberia. The people of Sierra Leone had always lived peacefully, without civil strife, until Foday Sankoh and his RUF rebels came from Liberia to Sierra Leone to disturb the peace. Sierra Leoneans were still suffering from that act.

Mr. Jonah said he was also surprised that, even though the Organization for African Unity (OAU), ECOWAS and the Security Council had labelled the military junta in Sierra Leone an illegal regime, President Taylor had not seen fit to do so. He did not wish to quibble with Mr. Taylor about whether the Kamajors were illegal or not. However, Sierra Leoneans were concerned that President Taylor's statement should not be the harbinger of a new intervention in their country. "If this should happen, then the whole subregion will surely go up in flames."

Asked what would be decided if the situation and the suffering turned out to be protracted, Mr. Jonah said an evolution was already under way in his country. At the beginning of the coup d'etat, some people thought the situation would blow over. However, there were terrorists and criminals conducting daily atrocities against the people. Sierra Leoneans had never seen the molestation of their citizens before and were "just fed up with this regime". They were seeking help, even if it meant militarily overthrowing the regime and suffering casualties as a result.

"Sierra Leoneans cannot accept this regime", Mr. Jonah went on to say. How could the laying of landmines be justified in an agricultural country -- or the importation of poison gas? Prolongation of the conflict through dialogue had caused a lot of trouble. So the civilian groups had come together to end the conflict themselves, because they could no longer depend on outside help. "That is one of the weaknesses of the United Nations: the Security Council only reacts to defend those interests of those who have the wherewithal. If you happen to be very weak militarily, or weak economically, then you are condemned. We share these qualities and that is why today we seem to be abandoned."

Sierra Leone Briefing - 4 - 11 September 1997

Asked about a statement by the Nigerian Foreign Minister that Foday Sankoh of the RUF should not be part of any future talks on Sierra Leone, Mr. Jonah said that the President and Government of Sierra Leone had never rejected the notion of involving the RUF in the governance of the country. However, now that people had seen the atrocities committed by those terrorists, it would be extremely difficult to ask the average Sierra Leonean to embrace them, or to embrace Mr. Sankoh. Nevertheless, the President and the Government were still prepared to implement the Abuja accords and to have the RUF converted to a political party; but shooting their way to power would not find support in the country.

Asked what would happen to the leaders of the insurrection and whether they would face a future war tribunal, Mr. Jonah said his country was a democracy, with a Parliament and public opinion. The President should be guided by what those elements had to say. Peace and reconciliation was the goal. "We are not a Government of vengeance. We are a Government of reconciliation." However, those who were saying to talk more and not apply force were making that a very difficult exercise. People did not hesitate to use force when they thought it was necessary, as in Bosnia.

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