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Misanet.com / IPS, 18 January - After years of speculation, the United Nations has finally signed a statute in Freetown establishing an international criminal court to "try individuals bearing the greatest responsibility" for horrific crimes committed during the country's decade-long civil war. Ralph Zacklin, the UN Assistant Secretary General for legal Affairs signed on behalf of the United Nations this week at State House, while Attorney General and Justice Minister Solomon Berewa signed on behalf of the government of Sierra Leone. Zacklin told IPS Thursday that "the political and military leaders who have been responsible for war crimes from November 1996 would be brought before the court." This would mean the detained RUF leader Foday Sankoh and senior members of his group, some commanders of the pro-government civil defence military and the Westside Boys, a rebel group, that was purged in an armed operation conducted by British force two years ago, would be brought before the court. The International Criminal Court (ICC) for Sierra Leone is certainly unique when compared, for instance, to the Arusha tribunal for Rwandan genocide suspects. The ICC would have three judges in the trial chamber, one Sierra Leonean and the other two international jurists appointed by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The prosecutor would also be a non-Sierra Leonean while the five judges at the Appeals Chamber would include three international judges appointed by Annan. Another peculiar distinction in the character of the court is that it would sit in Freetown where the crimes were committed and Zacklin's two-week visit is aimed at assessing the infrastructure available and setting up the legal frame work. However, even with this character of the court, the main rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), is still apprehensive, claiming the court is targeted at them. "We favour a neutral and independent court because the government side also committed gross atrocities," remarked Gibril Massaquoi, the rebel spokesperson. Massaquoi told IPS that his movement prefers the setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission along the lines of South Africa, but Zacklin said those who committed heinous crimes against their people could not go unpunished. With the peace process still hanging on a shoestring, many Sierra Leoneans question the timing of the ICC on the basis that the institutions of state are still fragile and that this may just well serve as conflict raisers. - How could we be talking about national reconciliation and at the same time be prosecuting people? asked Joseph Sesay, a civil servant in Freetown. "I think that we should embrace one another so that the country will forge ahead." Musu Mansaray, a 40-year old housewife whose husband and only child were murdered by the rebels, said: "I have forgiven the rebels for what they did to my family. I am only now busy trying to pick the pieces of my broken life." One non-governmental organisation, Forum for Democratic Initiatives (FORDI), has gone a step further to even question the necessity of the court. - Our position draws from a question of usefulness, says FORDI director, Charlie Hughes. "We don't believe the special court will be the answer to the culture of impunity in Sierra Leone. Restorative justice is what we want, that is using the resources meant for the court to help out the victims." The United Nations would be spending some 15 million US dollars on the court and preparations are well underway to set it in motion. But Hughes asks: "Aren't we looking out for more areas of conflict with such a court?" He adds that the national justice institutions should instead be strengthened. The civil war in Sierra Leone started in March 1991 when Liberia-backed rebels attacked this impoverished country, causing the death of more than 200,000 people and displacing a quarter of the country's 4.5 million population. In May 1999, an accord was signed in Lome, Togo between the government and rebel forces that set the stage for a peaceful settlement of the bloody conflict. During the crisis, thousands of civilians were mutilated and several towns and villages burnt down, including a third of the capital Freetown. There is hope now that peace is finally in sight as the country's 46,000 combatants have been disarmed and demobilised. But there is the lingering fear that any opening of old wounds would plunge the country back into chaos and instability.
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