OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.00pm.
A CROWD of several hundred people cheered as 24 Sierra Leonean army officers convicted of treason were hooded, tied to poles and executed by soldiers shooting volleys of machine-gun fire.
The convicts included two former chiefs of staff and Colonel FY Koroma, the brother of former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma, who is still at large.
The former soldiers were dressed in black shorts and black short-sleeved shirts –except for the one woman, Major Kula Samba, who wore a green checked dress.
Hundreds of local residents cheered as the shots rang out, and shouted “well done and thank you!”
Journalists were also allowed to watch the executions, which took place at the Juba 7th Battalion military barracks a few kilometres west of the capital, Freetown. Later, hundreds of civilians lined the streets of Freetown to try to catch a glimpse of trucks carrying the corpses to a cemetery.
The 24 were among 34 convicted of treason last week for collaborating with the junta which toppled the elected government in a violent coup in May 1997. The junta in turn was ousted this year by the Ecomog West African intervention force, which re-instated the elected government.
Remnants of the junta and the rebel Revolutionary United Front are still active in the north and east of the country, where they continue to commit atrocities against civilians. The rebels’ favoured modus operandi is to hack people to death with machetes.
An appeal for clemency by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday came to late to stay the executions.
Also on Monday another 16 civilians were convicted in the Freetown High Court of treason, murder and arson linked to the coup. Sentencing was postponed until Tuesday. The latest ruling brings the number of convicted civilian junta collaborators to 34. A number of other suspects remain on trial and hundreds in prision are yet to be charged.
The most prominent treason accused is the notorious rebel leader Foday Sankoh, self-confessed head of the RUF, which collaborated with the junta. It emerged at Sankoh’s trail last Friday that Sierra Leonean rebels were indoctrinated and trained in Libya.