LANSANA FOFANA, Freetown | Tuesday 6.00pm.
SIERRA Leone’s rebel leader Foday Sankoh, who was sentenced to death last week for his part in a coup which briefly overthrew the elected government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, has failed to persuade the court to spare his life.
Begging Judge Samuel Ademusu, Sankoh, who is believed to be in his 60s, pleaded: ”I will prevail on the rebels to lay down their arms and embrace peace if my life is spared.”
His plea was rejected by the Sierra Leonean authorities who signed a peace accord with Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front in the West African state of Ivory Coast in November 1996.
The RUF reneged on that agreement and escalated the conflict. Remnants of the RUF soldiers who fled into the bush after the ousting of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council junta in February, have vowed to continue fighting if Sankoh is executed.
RUF battlefield commander Sam Bockarie, alias Maskita, told a European radio station on Monday that ”peace will only prevail if our leader’s life is spared”.
Sankoh, who was sentenced to death by hanging on Oct 23, was found guilty of treason, incitement and crimes against humanity by the court. Unlike the officers and soldiers convicted of, and executed for, treason in the past fortnight Sankoh, who was tried in a civilian court, has the right of appeal.