Memo on Recent Violations of the Lomé Peace Accord

January 23, 1999

Below are listed some of the violations and atrocities documented by Human Rights Watch over the last few months. Most of these attacks occurred within the context of raids on small villages during which groups of armed men looted foodstuffs, money, and valuables. Women were often sexually abused and villagers were often abducted to carry the looted goods to rebel bases. Attacks on scores of villages around the towns of Port Loko, Lunghi, Kabala and Kambia have forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes since the July l999 signing of the accord.

Mutilation, Torture, Killing:

December 18, l999: A farmer, 28-years-old, from Karina village near Port Loko, had four fingers and part of his left ear cut off with a machete, and suffered four deep lacerations to his back, face, and shoulders while trying to escape from rebels who had abducted him and at least ten other civilians from surrounding villages to carry looted items.

November 17, l999: An 18-year-old farmer from Kaseidugu, near Kabala, described being stabbed in the arms and back during a night attack by some twenty rebels. His wife and baby son were abducted and another farmer killed in the same raid.

October 25, l999: A 16-year-old farmer from Yongoro was abducted by rebels with at least five other civilians from surrounding villages and forced to walk for ten hours until reaching a rebel base near Port Loko. The civilians were then given boxes of ammunition and forced to walk to a rebel base another 10-12 hours away. After collapsing from fatigue, the boy was shot at close range and left for dead. He witnessed another civilian who had also collapsed, being shot and killed. The boy lost his right arm due to the injury he sustained.

October 11, l999: A 23-year-old farmer from Conta Mangarma village described how rebels who had entered his village to loot, tied him up and demanded he tell them where rice and valuables were hidden. When he was unable to give the soldiers money, they proceeded to drop burning plastic from a melted container all over his face and body leaving him with over 150 small burns.

October 3, l999: A 15-year-old boy from Macoberi Village, near Port Loko, suffered lacerations to his left hand when rebels entered his village to loot food stuffs. He was told to lay out his hand which was then struck two times with a machete. He was threatened with death if he tried to save his hand. His mother and two young women were abducted during the same attack.

Sexual Abuse:

November 24, l999: A 23-year-old woman living within a camp for displaced civilians in Port Loko was attacked along with nine other civilians when they went to harvest cassava they had planted months earlier in Rogbari Village. She described being tied up and gang-raped by four rebels. Several other women were raped as well and an old man was severely beaten because he was too old to carry the harvested cassava into the bush. Nine of the civilians were abducted for three days before being let go.

November 18, l999: Two women, 33 and 35-years-old, were attacked by a group of some thirty rebels in Petifu Village, near Pepel, after harvesting rice. The 33-year-old, who was six months pregnant at the time, was raped by at least fifteen men and lost her baby. The 35-year-old was raped by five rebels and held for several days before being released.

November 2, l999: A 15-year-old girl from Madina village, near Fadugu, was abducted with her four sisters and forced by rebels to carry looted goods. She was held for two weeks and repeatedly raped before escaping to Kabala.

Ambushes:

December 13, l999: A truck travelling near Port Loko was ambushed by rebels who opened fire when the driver refused to stop. One civilian was killed and another seriously injured in the ambush.

November 19, l999: A state owned bus travelling from Freetown to Guinea was ambushed by one hundred well armed men south of Rogberi Junction. Two women were raped and all passengers were robbed of their possessions. At least ten passengers were abducted for several days.

November 17, l999: A jeep belonging to an international aid agency and carrying local aid workers and malnourished women and children, was intercepted by some thirty armed men near Port Loko. They occupants were forced to walk with the armed men into the bush where some of them were beaten and at least one was sexually abused.

October 4, l999: A government bus travelling from Freetown to Bo was ambushed and hijacked near Masiaka by a group of some fifty rebels who stole money and goods from the passengers. At least eight women, including minors, were raped. Many of the passengers were forced to carry the looted items into the bush before being released.

Abduction:

According to UNICEF, some 2000 children registered as missing since the January l999 offensive have yet to be released. In the Port Loko area, Human Rights Watch has documented new abductions by rebel forces as recently as December 21, l999. On November 25, 1990, six children who had gone to harvest rice within Mathakan village, near Port Loko, were abducted and forced by several armed men to carry the rice into the bush.

Joint statements committing all parties to release all civilian non-combatants and prisoners of war were signed on May 18, l999 and on July 7, l999.

Despite issuing a written order to his commanders on July 28, l999 to "release immediately all remaining Prisoners of War and non-combatants by this instruction," Chairman Foday Sankoh has since denied having any abducted children or adults.

Attacks on Humanitarian Workers, Aid Projects, and Beneficiaries:

December 6, l999: Two expatriate humanitarian workers with Medecins Sans Frontières were held for over a week by RUF commander Sam Bockarie in Kailahun District.

October 15-16, l999: Aid workers trying to alleviate severe malnutrition in and around Makeni, descried how their cars, radios, generators, medicines, food stores, and property were looted by rebel soldiers when fighting broke out between the RUF and ex-SLA. Despite promises by RUF leaders to return all of the looted items, very little has been returned.

Abuses by ECOMOG:

January 5, 2000: Market women described how a laborer pushing a hand cart was beaten and later stabbed to death with a bayonet by angry ECOMOG soldiers who accused him of blocking the road.

November 13, l999: At least five youths were killed in a stampede at the Rumour's Nightclub when ECOMOG and Sierra Leonean police fired into the air to disperse the large crowd of youths who had gathered for a dance. The officials accused the youths of defying the curfew order. Excessive use of force was used to break up the crowd and officials were implicated in the deaths.

September 30, l999: Four rebel youths, including two minors, were severely beaten up and mutilated with knives and machetes by loyal SLA soldiers who had captured them after raiding a village near Port Loko.