Sierra Leone
Rights group documents new atrocities in Sierra Leone

afrol.com, 28 November - As the United Nations Secretary-General prepares to visit Sierra Leone, Human Rights Watch today released fresh evidence that civilian suffering continues unabated in the civil war there. The rights watchdog provided details of ongoing atrocities by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in both Sierra Leone and Guinea.

In addition to providing details of ongoing atrocities by the RUF, Human Rights Watch also documented how armed factions fighting on behalf of the Sierra Leonean government have also attacked civilians in recent months.

Since the resumption of hostilities in May 2000, Human Rights Watch has taken scores of testimonies from victims and witnesses of abuses taking place within Port Loko, Kambia, Makeni, Lunsar, Kono, Kenema and Kabala districts. 

A statement by the group notes that "while our research suggests that the RUF continue to commit the overwhelming majority of atrocities - including rape, murder, abduction, forced conscription, and amputation - we note with concern the rising number of serious abuses by the Civil Defense Forces (CDF, primarily the Kamajors and Gbithis) including rape, systematic extortion, looting of villages, commandeering of vehicles, recruitment of children, and torture and summary execution of suspected rebels. We have also documented RUF attacks on Guinean villages and civilians." 

Documentation of atrocities by the group dates from May to September this year. One example of an RUF operation is described as follows: "August 9-10: RUF rebels conducted a recruitment operation in villages around the northern town of Kabala in which some forty civilians, mostly young men, were rounded up and "tattooed" with the letters R-U-F by a rebel commander. The tattooing was done by cutting 1-2 inch letters into the upper chest with a razor blade or knife. Human Rights Watch interviewed twelve of those, including three adolescent girls, who managed to escape after being 'tattooed'. Victims described the rape of at least eleven girls by the RUF during the operation. "

Human Rights Watch and other credible witnesses and organizations have verified the continued use of child and adolescent combatants by Kamajor and Gbethi militias. Numerous children and adolescents, as young as 11, have been spotted manning checkpoints along the Freetown - Mile 91 highway, and around the towns of Moyamba, Yele and Bo. 

The Organisation called on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to ensure that UNAMSIL, the UN forces in Sierra Leone, do more to protect civilians. In a letter to the Secretary-General, Human Rights Watch urged that the Special Court for trying war crimes in Sierra Leone should be created without further delay and be given "Chapter VII powers" to enforce cooperation, and that it have jurisdiction over crimes committed from the beginning of the war in March 1991, instead of only since November 30, 1996. 

Human Rights Watch also warned that the United Nations should enforce the international arms embargo against the RUF, which is now making incursions and committing abuses against civilians in neighboring Guinea. 

Source: Based on Human Rights Watch

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