LANSANA FOFANA, Freetown | Friday 10.00pm.
DOCUMENTS before the High Court in Sierra Leone show that the brutal civil war in that country was funded by Tripoli and that rebels in Sierra Leone, as well as in other West African countries, recieved military training in Libya.
The documents came to light at the trial of Foday Sankoh, self-confessed leader of the rebel Revolutionary United Front, members of which are responsible for continuing atrocities against cvilians in the north and east of Sierra Leone.
The documents tendered by state prosecution last week are purportedly written by Sankoh, and solicit financial assistance from Libya to sustain the war in Sierra Leone.
Sankoh, who was extradited from Nigeria this year, has been charged with treason and faces the death sentence if convicted.
The documents show that the RUF’s dealings with Libya began soon after Sankoh launched his bush war in March 1991. In one, Sankoh requests “$US2 million plus another $US7,000 urgently … as funds solicited from Burkina Faso have not been received”.
According to “confessions” made by a number of ex-RUF soldiers, the core fighters of the movement initially received military training in the Libyan desert town of Benghazi.
Rebel leaders such as Charles Taylor of Liberia (now its president), Gambian renegade Kukoi Samba Sanyang who led a botched invasion of his country, Sankoh of Sierra Leone and Gbago Zoumanigui of Guinea all allegedly received money and training for their fighters from Libya.