Scars of war fade as Sierra Leone awaits fate of dictator 'who fuelled violence' Ostriches and Automatic Weapons - By John Norris. The news that former Liberian President Charles Taylor was convicted by a tribunal at The Hague on Thursday, April 26, on 11 counts of planning, aiding, and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone is undoubtedly a victory for international law and hopefully some solace for his victims in two long-suffering African countries.
But I also find myself thinking back to an afternoon 10 years ago, a memory featuring a crumbling mansion, a lawn filled with ostriches, and some of the most anxious men I've ever encountered. In July 2002, I was working for the International Crisis Group (ICG), researching the ongoing conflict in Liberia. A colleague and I were aware we had been under close scrutiny from Taylor's government as we conducted our research over the course of two weeks in the country; there was little that went on in the capital, Monrovia, without Taylor's knowledge. Seeing Charles Taylor from Sierra Leone. On a warm summer day in 2005, I took a tour through the former home of my host family in a small village in Sierra Leone.
Their abode at the time, a concrete structure with several small rooms, made them among the luckiest in the village; most lived in mud huts, only sometimes with metal roofs. Their former home, however—well, I certainly needed a tour guide to find it. Because it was a small tree, hidden in a pit amid a crowded rainforest. During the months of horror when rebel forces razed the villages around Taiama, this family of a dozen ate leaves and cassava plants and tried to stay as quiet as they could.
When they emerged, all the children were years behind in school and the family's wealth—a piece of land they cultivated—was decimated by neglect. Sierra Leone: 50-Year Sentence for Charles Taylor. (New York) – The sentencing of Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison on May 30, 2012 by the Special Court for Sierra Leone is a landmark in ensuring justice for the victims of Sierra Leone's brutal armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.
“Crucial in the sentencing was the court’s finding that Charles Taylor's position as head of state was an aggravating factor,” said Elise Keppler, international justice senior counsel at Human Rights Watch. “This sends a strong signal that the world is increasingly intolerant of leaders who exploit their positions of power to commit serious crimes in violation of international law.” Sierra Leone: 10 years after Civil War. After 10 years of civil war, Sierra Leone is at peace.
Charles G. Now Charles Taylor has gone, Sierra Leone is on the rise. There will be celebrations in Sierra Leone following the conviction of Charles Taylor at The Hague, not least because April 27 is independence day and a public holiday.And there are other reasons to celebrate.
Ten years after the end of a decade-long civil war, Sierra Leone is undergoing an economic boom. For years the bottom-ranking country on the UN human development index, Sierra Leone is predicted by the IMF to experience economic growth of a world-leading 34% this year. On my last visit there, the plane was full of oil workers from Aberdeen following the discovery of offshore oil reserves. In the capital, Freetown, Chinese investment was carving a major traffic route through the city and new beachfront hotels were going up. The boom has been largely resource-driven – primarily by iron ore, but also gold, titanium and aluminium. I wrote about the special court when it opened in 2004, with its brief to try those most responsible for the war in Sierra Leone. Selective justice. Charles Taylor deserves to be behind bars, but his trial is no shining example of international justice.
Above: Taylor supporters await the verdict © tlupic The recent conviction of former Liberian president and notorious warlord Charles Taylor by the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) at the Hague has been widely welcomed. Even his own defense lawyer, British barrister Courtenay Griffiths, agreed that his client was guilty of at least some war crimes. The World Factbook. ShowIntroduction :: SIERRA LEONE Panel - Collapsed The British set up a trading post near present-day Freetown in the 17th century.
Originally the trade involved timber and ivory, but later it expanded into slaves. Following the American Revolution, a colony was established in 1787 and Sierra Leone became a destination for resettling black loyalists who had originally been resettled in Nova Scotia. After the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, British crews delivered thousands of Africans liberated from illegal slave ships to Sierra Leone, particularly Freetown.
The colony gradually expanded inland during the course of the 19th century; independence was attained in 1961. Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war (1991-2002) that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one third of the population). Sierra Leone.