On Monday Issa Sesay was shown a letter by the Prosecution. The letter was retrieved from Mr. Taylor’s archives. Mr Taylor had produced this letter as evidence in August during his own defence and told the Special Court that “this is the letter from General Issa Sesay”. The letter addressed RUF concerns about attacks from the UN, the arrest of Mr. Sankoh and the Sierra Leone’s government’s violations of the Lome Peace Accord. The letter asked Mr. Taylor to lead the peace process in Sierra Leone through ECOWAS.
Mr Sesay told the court that he did not write this letter to Mr. Taylor. Mr. Koumjian for the prosecution asked the witness “it is obvious that if this was in the archive of Charles Taylor, then it is written by Charles Taylor’s men as the demands of the RUF. This is a letter that was written on your behalf by Charles Taylor’s people. He was using you as a puppet, correct?”
Mr. Sesay replied “Nobody was using me. ECOWAS only used me to disarm the RUF, but the Liberian government did not use me.” Mr. Koumjian put it to Mr. Sesay that “Charles Taylor said to you that if he is made chairman of ECOWAS he will help you”, which Mr. Sesay denied.
The prosecution then enquired why Mr. Sesay had chosen to release the peacekeepers in Liberia, rather than Sierra Leone, where the peacekeeping mission was based.
Mr Sesay said, “I got the contact from Monrovia. If I had got the contact in Sierra Leone, I would have released them in Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor told me to take them to Liberia, that’s why I took them to Foya and the helicopter took them to Monrovia,
The prosecution also suggested that Mr. Sesay had contradicted himself by telling the court that he had only gone to Monrovia once in May 2000, quoting passages from Mr. Sesay’s own trial in which he had told the Special court he had visited Liberia twice during this period.
Mr. Sesay had originally said “I was in the last helicopter that left for Monrovia the following morning, Tua came and took me to Charles Taylor and Charles Taylor said, ‘You have done well by releasing these people because Foday Sankoh was not listening.”
Mr. Sesay responded to the prosecution by suggesting that he had got confused, “well, I recall that when I went with the UN,I stopped in Foya if I did say that I went to Monrovia, now I recall that I stopped at Foya.”
The prosecution also alerted the court to discrepancy between Sesay’s evidence and the evidence given by Mr. Taylor’s.
Mr. Taylor had told the court during his testimony that he never suggested that Mr. Bockarie be made to re-join the RUF. In contrast Mr. Sesay told the court, earlier this month that Mr. Taylor suggested as much to him when Mr. Sesay became interim leader of the RUF.
Mr. Sesay did not appear in Court on Tuesday because of scheduled dentist appointment. Instead the defence called a new, and protected, witness known only as DCT-008.
The witness informed the court that he had worked as a radio operator in the NPFL and in Mr. Taylor’s mansion as part of the Special Security Services, and testified about the communications that took place between Benjamin Yeaten and Sam Bockarie.
The witness told the court that communications existed between radio operators at the Executive Mansion and the RUF in Sierra Leone. However, these communications were secret and even “the Liberian government did not know about it, not even the president”.
The witness later discussed this matter with Sam Bockarie and asked whether “Charles Taylor was aware of communications with Yeaten.” The witness told the court that Mr. Bockarie said “No.”
The witness also told the court that, “Charles Taylor did not know because Benjamin Yeaten told Sunlight (a radio operator) that what I have told you should be kept to yourself and you must not share it with any other government radio operator because this relationship between Sam Bockarie and myself, the president does not know about it and you should keep it to yourself.”
Mr. Sesay returned to the court on Wednesday and told the court that the RUF did not fight for Mr. Taylor in Guinea or Liberia. Mr. Koumjian, for the prosecution, put it to Mr. Sesay that ““Benjamin Yeaten provided the RUF with ammunition to launch these attacks in Guinea and Lofa in Liberia,” Mr. Sesay replied saying ““No, Benjamin Yeaten did not give me ammunition and I did not send the RUF to fight in Guinea and Liberia.”
Mr. Koumjian continued saying “you as interim leader of the RUF were battling the enemies of Charles Taylor in both Liberia and Guinea,”
The witness responded, telling the court “I did not fight the enemies of Charles Taylor.”
It was then put to Mr. Sesay, “Did Charles Taylor ask you to assist him the same way he had asked Mr. Sankoh?”
Mr Sesay told the court, “No, No. He did not ask me, he could have asked Mr. Sankoh but he did not ask me. The RUF who went there did so on their own accord.” Mr. Koumjian asked whether this was an admission that RUF fighters did cross into Liberia, and the witness told the court, “What I mean, when I asked them (the RUF) to disarm, the Vanguards who refused, crossed over to Liberia. Even Superman went over to Liberia, but to say that I organized men to go over to Liberia, no.”
Mr. Sesay also told the court that “Mr. Taylor did not give me any operation to attack Guinea…there were cross-border attacks which the Guineans launched and the RUF was repelling them…The Guineans were launching long range missiles which were landing in RUF controlled territories.” Thursday saw the conclusion of Mr. Sesay’s cross examination in which the witness attempted to dismiss suggestions that he has an alterior motive for testifying for Mr. Taylor and that Mr. Taylor had sent men to kill him during the disarmament process.
Mr. Koumjian asked “Charles Taylor was unhappy with your decision to cooperate with the United Nations and at some point he sent men to kill you, did you know that?” Mr. Sesay replied, saying “No, I did not know that, i did not hear that and i don’t believe that Charles Taylor wanted to kill me because Charles Taylor was one of those encouraging me to disarm.” Mr. Koumjian then read from evidence given by an ex-NPFL fighter who had told the court that Mr. Taylor had ordered him to execute Mr. Sesay. The evidence reads “I crossed over to Pendembu in the Kailahun District to wait for Issa Sesay to execute him under the directive of my leader Charles Taylor. Later Taylor called me and said he had already sent for Issa to go and receive ammos in Buedu and for him to come and pass through me to Buedu and then I will follow him to get him, but Issa never returned. I spent almost two weeks in Kailahun and later he told me that, “the man has gone. He will no longer receive supplies from me.” Mr. Sesay told the court that this was a lie.
Mr. Koumjian also put it to Mr. Sesay that he “have the hope that if Charles Taylor is released, he’ll help you get political release from prison. If Charles Taylor is released, he’ll help you get out of jail, correct?” “No my Lord,” replied Mr. Sesay, “Mr. Taylor is not a Sierra Leonean and so he has no influence in Sierra Leone. It is the people of Sierra Leone who will appeal to the Government of Sierra Leone for my release or the international community who know what I did for peace in Sierra Leone.”
