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afrol News, 28 April - A former rebel commander during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war has pleaded innocent to 17 counts of crimes against humanity - including four attacks against United Nations peacekeepers. In his initial appearance last Friday before the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, Augustine Gbao pleaded not guilty to charges of crimes against humanity, and declared that he did not have money to pay for his defence, according to reports from the UN. Mr Gbao was a commander of the ex-rebel forces of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which committed gross human rights violations against the civilian population during the ten-year civil war in Sierra Leone. RUF is accused of murder, rape, extermination, acts of terror, enslavement, looting and burning, sexual slavery and conscription of children into an armed force. The 17 separate charges against Mr Gbao, which include rape and murder as well as the attacks against the peacekeepers, also relate to other serious violations of humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. According to its rules, the Court will pay for Mr Gbao's defence until an investigation into his financial standing has been completed. In the meantime, the Court appointed Andreas O'Shea, a barrister from the United Kingdom, to lead Mr Gbao's defence team. Sierra Leone's tribunal differs from those of set up by the UN Security Council for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in that its proceedings will be held in the country and include a mix of local and international prosecutors and judges. The court was created by an agreement between the UN and the Sierra Leonean government to indict and try those considered to have the greatest responsibility for war crimes committed during ten years of brutal conflict. It is designed to function for three years and has power to prosecute those "who bear the greatest responsibility" for serious violations of international humanitarian law and certain violations of Sierra Leone law committed in Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996. The Sierra Leone Special Court Prosecutor, David Crane, in March announced indictments against RUF's ex-leader Foday Saybana Sankoh, Johnny Paul Koroma, Sam Bockarie, Issa Hassan Sesay, Alex Tamba Brima, Morris Kallon and Sam Hinga Norman, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian law. Sankoh, Sesay, Brima, Kallon, and Norman are in custody. Because the Special Court is anticipated to prosecute around twenty
persons, it will leave many crimes unaddressed. A Truth and Reconciliation
Commission is also at work in Sierra Leone. Its mandate is to seek to
establish an impartial historical record of the conflict and promote
reconciliation, but it will not have the capacity to adjudicate criminal
responsibility.
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