IV. HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES COMMITTED BY RUF REBELS

Systematic Targeting of Civilians

The rebel occupation of Freetown was characterized by the systematic and widespread perpetration of all classes of gross human rights abuses against the civilian population. Civilians were gunned down within their houses, rounded up and massacred on the streets, thrown from the upper floors of buildings, used as human shields, and burned alive in cars and houses. They had their limbs hacked off with machetes, eyes gouged out with knives, hands smashed with hammers, and bodies burned with boiling water. Women and girls were systematically sexually abused, and children and young people abducted by the hundreds.

The rebels made little distinction between civilian and military targets. They repeatedly stated that they believed civilians should be punished for what they perceived to be their support for the existing government. Thus, the rebels waged war against the civilian population through the perpetration of human rights abuses. While there was some targeting of particular groups, such as Nigerians, police officers, journalists, and church workers, the vast majority of atrocities were committed by rebels who chose their victims apparently at random.



The arbitrary nature of these attacks served to create an atmosphere of complete terror. Some victims were attacked for resisting rape or abduction, trying to flee, trying to protect a friend or family member, or refusing to follow instructions to dance or make music on the streets, but most described being chosen for execution or mutilation at random, often without being asked a single question.

It is difficult to ascertain the level of seniority within the RUF at which the perpetration of human rights abuses was ordered, though the widespread participation in abuses suggests that they must have been authorized at a high level within the RUF's command structures. Victims and witnesses frequently overheard commanders on the ground give orders to perpetrate atrocities, and there are very few accounts of individual combatants or commanders trying to halt the abuses. When witnesses reported that individual combatants did object and try to halt the abuses, those objecting were often met with death threats from their fellow rebels.

The atrocities were often planned and premeditated. Victims and witnesses describe well-organized operations to round up civilians who were later executed, attacked with machetes, or raped. On several occasions rebels gave advance warning that atrocities were to be committed later.

Witnesses describe the existence of distinct units known for committing particular crimes, like the Burn House Unit, Cut Hands Commando, and Blood Shed Squad. Some of these squads had a trademark way of killing such as the Kill Man No Blood unit, whose method was to beat people to death without shedding blood, or the Born Naked Squad, who stripped their victims before killing them. The closer ECOMOG forces got to rebel positions, the more these squads were mobilized and sent on operation.



Upon gaining control of a neighborhood or suburb, the rebels went on systematic looting raids, in which families were hit by wave after wave of rebels demanding money and valuables. Those who didn't have what the rebels demanded were often murdered. While rape and abduction were widespread throughout the offensive, the pace of the executions, amputations and burning of property picked up dramatically as the rebels were forced to withdraw. The abuses committed in the last several days of rebel occupation of any given neighborhood were of staggering proportion.

It is difficult to establish how many civilians were killed during the rebel incursion. The Senior Government Pathologist registered the burial of 7,335 corpses of people who were killed as a result of the January 6 rebel incursion. These include 4,245 which were either left in the city morgue or picked up off the street during the offensive and buried in mass graves, and 3,090 which were later exhumed and reburied after having been hastily disposed of during the fighting and rebel occupation.9 While the number of combatants from both sides, either killed in battle or after capture or incapacitation by wounds, was thought to be high, human rights activists believe at least half of the dead were civilians. One local human rights group has already documented 2,215 civilian killings.10

Freetown's three main hospitals reported treating 827 wounded, although hospital staff note that for the first several weeks of the offensive, precise records were not kept.11 In all three hospitals, the majority of war related injuries resulted from gunshot wounds, followed by lacerations by machete, knife, or axe. One study done in Freetown's biggest hospital found that some 80 percent of all wounded were the victims of multiple killings or massacres.12

The largest concentration of dead and wounded came from the three densely populated eastern suburbs of Kissy, Wellington, and Calaba Town. During the weeks of rebel occupation all three suburbs were cut off from the capital's main medical facilities, which are all located within the ECOMOG controlled west. Unable to cross the front lines, most wounded civilians sought medical attention from local nurses and small clinics. However, loathe to identify themselves for fear of abduction, medical personnel had frequently gone into hiding or fled the area. There was also a dearth of medicine and supplies to treat the wounded, as clinics and pharmacies were frequently targeted for looting by the rebels. It was not uncommon for wounded civilians to go for several days before receiving medical treatment or seeing a doctor.

On June 14, 1999, Human Rights Watch spoke with Omraie Golley, official spokesperson and legal representative for the RUF. He denied that his troops had committed any atrocities against the civilian population during the January offensive He said that while they have received allegations, "I have yet to find firm evidence that points to individual soldiers or commanders responsible for committing any atrocities against the civilian population. We've heard a lot of stories, we've heard a lot of terrible things. These kinds of allegations are easy to make but difficult to prove. But, if any of our soldiers or commanders have been guilty of such atrocities they will be brought to book." Golley also stated that the RUF has not initiated any formal investigations or disciplinary proceedings against any individual soldier or commander.

When asked about the mutilation and amputation of limbs, he said, "in July l997 firm instructions were issued about the use of machetes. They were banned as an implement of war and it was made clear to all our soldiers and commanders that any found guilty of these atrocities would be severely dealt with. The RUF has been fighting a war to protect people, not to destroy them. If any civilians were mutilated during the January offensive, they were not mutilated by the RUF. There were many other groups involved in the conflict during the time of occupation and all of them the Civilian Defense Forces, The Kamajors, ECOMOG, and vigilante groups should be investigated." About the use of human shields and reports of rape, he said, "we unreservedly deny the use of human shields. This is clearly against our war policy and our commanders are well aware of this. Rape is clearly against the RUF penal code and in the past men found guilty of this have been severely dealt with.



In response to the allegations of atrocities committed in the last eight years of war, Golley said that in March 1999 the RUF asked the government of Sierra Leone to provide them with detailed allegations of such atrocities and set up "an independent commission made up of three RUF military personnel and three civilians to investigate various allegations of atrocities." Golley clarified, however, that, "the fact that we've set up a commission is not an admission of guilt, because as far as we're concerned we are not guilty of having committed atrocities against the people; rather it is in response to these persistent allegations."13

Massacres, Individual Murders, and Fire-Related Deaths

Human Rights Watch took testimonies from scores of survivors and witnesses to individual murders, group killings, and massacres. These killings began on the first day of the offensive and continued through the day the rebels abandoned the easternmost suburbs.

James Kajue and his family

In the early morning hours of January 6, as they were attempting to flee their home in the eastern suburb of Wellington, James Kajue and his family were stopped by advancing rebels and marched to a nearby side street. After being asked for money, a rebel opened fire on them, wounding both James and his wife Victoria and killing six of their children and their only grandson. One daughter, Frida, survived. James recounted what happened:

We went to bed on the night of January 5 and left the children watching videos. Around midnight I woke up and heard gunshots coming very close. I didn't hear any shelling from ECOMOG so I figured the rebels were on their way. I called a few friends who live further east and when they didn't answer I said, Victoria, let's get out of here. So we put all the kids in the station wagon and left. As we drove down the main highway there were thousands of people on the roads and when we'd gone a few more miles the cars were stopped. At that moment someone lit a flare illuminating the area and when I looked back I saw that mixed in with the civilians were hundreds of rebel soldiers. It was then I realized the rebels were among us. There was a lot of gunfire so I told everyone to stay in the car and crouch down. I thought it was safer. Scores of rebels passed by without seeing us but then an eight-year-old rebel with an RPG14 and who was small enough to see through the window noticed us and alerted the others. One of them ordered us out of the car and said, you people have been deceived by ECOMOG, why are you fleeing towards them, we're your brothers. Victoria tried to calm him and told him we just wanted to go to someplace safe. He then walked us up a side street a few hundred yards away and told us to sit down. He wanted money so Victoria reached into her bag and gave him some. He said it was too little and as we were about to offer him more I noticed three or four more rebels moving up the road. As they approached I heard them shouting, ASLA on the move...you thought we'd gone but we've come back. As one of them was approaching, I heard him say Awhy are you wasting time with these civilians...they've been supporting Tejan Kabbah and ECOMOG. We must teach them a lesson. I think we should just fire [kill] them. And as soon as he said this, he swung around the AK-47, cocked it and opened fire on my family. It wasn't even one minute from the time he walked up to the time he opened up on us. And then I heard one of them saying, Awhy did you have to do it but the one who did it, who by that time was walking around to check if we were all dead, pulled Frida, who was alive, by the hair and said, see, they're not all dead. And then he got to me and said, I'll just pick up Pa's watch. I was hit on the hand which was resting on my chest so there was a lot of blood. I pretended to be dead so he just ripped off my watch and walked off with the others. And then the roll call I couldn't do it. Victoria had to do it. Patrick, CiCi, Mary all died instantly. Ester was dying. At that moment only Frida replied. She was wounded but not gravely. There was a lot of gunfire so I got up and said, I'm going for shelter...can anyone who can walk just please, please follow me. Victoria took my two year-old grandson who was crying and fatally wounded. We later dragged David who'd been hit in the spine and couldn't walk. And I could hear James calling, I'm stuck against this wall and can't move. By now rebels were passing and we couldn't go to him. Later we thought that he must've been hit in the spine and to him it must've felt like he was pinned against a wall. He only called a few times more and then fell silent. Little Hassan died a few hours later; he was hit three times. And David, the last time I spoke to him I said, can you promise me, promise me you'll survive this thing and he said, Dad I promise you but he couldn't. He died later that day. He [the rebel] came from nowhere. I didn't have time. I would've stood up and offered myself in place of the kids. They didn't ask us any questions. If they were to accuse anyone it should've been me. I would have given myself. I had some money. I would've offered it to them but the one who killed us didn't come for money he came to destroy our lives. He just opened up on my family without saying anything.15



Several attacks and massacres were perpetrated against civilians seeking refuge within churches, mosques, and hospitals. These included the January 18 attack on the Kissy Mental Hospital in which some sixteen men were executed and six women attacked with machetes, the January 19 attack on the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star Church in Wellington in which twelve people, including at least three children, were taken out and executed, and the January 22 massacre within the Rogbalan Mosque in Kissy in which sixty-six people were gunned down.

Ibrahim

According to numerous survivors interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the massacre within the Rogbalan Mosque was an organized, premeditated operation involving two groups of rebels and lasting approximately forty-five minutes. Several survivors described how, a few days prior, rebels had given warning that a massacre was going to be committed. Ibrahim, forty-eight, described what he saw as he was hiding and how he later counted the dead:

The mosque was packed full of both Muslims and Christians. The rebels had been coming in and out of the mosque; abducting young girls and harassing us, but things were getting so bad outside we thought it was still safer than in our houses. That day at around l0:00 a.m. I was inside the mosque when I saw at least four rebels burst into the courtyard. One of them had a gun, one had a pistol and two others, including a ten-year-old, had knives and machetes. They were all wearing black pants and black T-shirts. A sixteen-year-old boy sitting on the steps tried to warn the others that the rebels were coming so when they entered the courtyard, the first thing they did was tell the boy to open his mouth and then the one with the AK put his gun into his mouth and shot him through the head. Once inside, the one with the pistol started asking everyone for money. In the meantime, two of the other rebels, including the ten year old, moved to block the doors. Then, as the pistol man was walking around pointing his gun and robbing people, a few of the others started arguing over whether to burn us alive in the mosque or shoot us. One of the rebels then walked around the mosque sprinkling petrol on people and I heard one of them say, you bastard civilians; you don't like us and we don't like you. Finally, one of the others raised his machete and screamed, Our mission is to kill you and cut your hands. People then started screaming and begging and the one with the rifle just started firing. The mosque was very crowded. It was very confusing and people were running and trying to escape but the ten-year-old was standing by one of the doors and I saw him stab people as they tried to run past him. Sometimes the executioner would aim directly at one person and other times he'd just fire randomly. Then he walked back to the women's section and opened up on the people gathered there. Then he positioned himself in the passage leading out of the mosque and started picking people off as they tried to escape. It was here he killed a lot of people. His was the only way out, so as people made a run for it, he would shoot them. Some fifteen or so minutes into the thing, another group of rebels arrived to reinforce. They surrounded the place and several of them came around and hit the little Islamic school we have in the back. I think many of the children who died in the massacre were back there. Then at some point a whistle blew and the rebels rushed around searching for things to steal from the dead. And then left. Somehow a lot of people including myself managed to escape. I was hiding under a mattress in the courtyard and all I could think about was my daughter who was inside when the firing started. I prayed she was able to escape. After I was sure the rebels had gone, I crept out and started looking for her. That's how I came to know how many were killed. I went through the mosque, the women's section, the school, the courtyard, and the street looking for my daughter. I thank god I didn't find her among the dead. But I counted sixty-six bodies including seven little children.16

Adama

During the fighting and rebel occupation, civilians tended to concentrate in the larger or more fortified houses of their neighbors, friends, and family. Such concentrations of people often fell victim to brutal rebel attacks in which large numbers of civilians would be killed. Sometimes the men would be targeted and other times no one would be spared. The houses were frequently set on fire with the wounded civilians still inside.

Adama, sixteen, was hiding in a closet with her two small cousins on January 21, while rebels walked room to room killing seventeen men, women, and children including several relatives. The house was later set on fire with one blind man and at least three of the wounded still inside. She recounted:

At around 7:30 a.m. when we were just sitting down to breakfast, two rebels came into the compound and told everyone to get inside the house. They started screaming obscenities and then one of them said, we're going to kill all of you so we all ran upstairs. I hid with my two little cousins but I could see everything. As they were coming up the stairs I heard them shoot two men who'd sought refuge in our house. Then they came into our apartment and my sister's husband Mani started to plead saying, please, I beg you, if it's money you want I'll give it to you but they said, we don't want money, we said we've come to kill you. Then they shot him in the chest. Then they turned on Mani's brother Tejan who was holding his nine-month-old baby. They shot him and he fell with the baby in his arms. Then they fired a friend of Tejan's. They said nothing, nothing, asked them nothing. The same rebel dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt and with dreadlocks was doing all the killing. When they'd finished in the parlor they went to the bedroom which I could still see from where I was. My sister Fatmata was on the bed with my three year old cousin Sia. They shot my sister two times, and then shot little Sia. Then I heard my twelve-year-old cousin Sahr scream, Amama, have you left me, and then they shot him. Then they shot a ten-year-old neighbor boy on the foot, then our friend Mr. Koroma and a fifteen-year-old neighbor named Aminata. Then they went to the next room. I couldn't see what happened but I heard three gunshots and later saw the bodies of three of our neighbors. There was a blind man who lived in that apartment with his seven-year-old boy. The blind man was the only one they didn't shoot and as they left the room I heard them say, now, you be sure and take care good care of all these people. When they were in the third room, my little eight-year-old cousin crept out from behind the wardrobe and went to her father. She was crying and she stood in front of him and bowed down. He was dead and her uncle Tejan who was still alive said, he's left us now...quick, you go hide. But, then she went to her mom and did the same thing. I think she was saying good-bye to them. Then I called her back to me. By this time we could smell smoke coming from downstairs. I guess the other rebels had set fire to the downstairs. The one who did the killing then sprayed petrol throughout our apartment and lit it on fire. Then I heard them go outside. By now there was a lot of smoke so I grabbed my cousins, went down the stairs and tried to leave but the rebels saw us. They told me to give them my cousins but I refused so two of them pointed their guns at me and said, so it's there you're going to die get back into that house and burn. They then closed the door from outside and leaned on it so I couldn't escape. I waited for several more minutes until I just couldn't stand it anymore and then tried the door again and this time managed to escape. By now the fire was really blazing. We could hear the screams of people upstairs and from the outside we could see the seven-year-old son of the blind man from the window, but his father was crying and he didn't want to leave him. We convinced him to jump by saying we'd rescue his father in a few minutes. We knew it wouldn't be possible but otherwise the boy wouldn't have come. The blind man and the others were burned alive. They kept crying but there was just nothing we could do. The second rebel told the bad one at least twice to stop the killing but the bad one said he'd kill him as well if he said anything else. I just don't know why he behaved that way. In a quiet moment I feel it too much.17

Abdul

Abdul, twenty-eight, and his brother had sought refugee from the fighting in a large house in the business district of Freetown. He described how the rebels targeted only the men, leaving nine dead.

We'd been up fleeing all night and were so tired so we sought refugee with about fifty people within a fenced compound which we thought would be safe. At around 7:00 a.m. a group of seven rebels dressed in full military uniform stormed in. Once of them said, we're SLA soldiers. We've been gone for nine months but today we've come back. Then they started pointing their guns at us and screaming for us to give them money. A few minutes later the one who seemed like he was their commander said, let's don't waste time, spray them all, at which point another rebel started shooting us one by one. The gunman was only two yards away from us. They shot my seventeen-year-old brother Isa and two of my friends. We begged them to spare us, we begged them to stop. He shot us deliberately, one after the other and only picking out the men. They said we didn't support them and after shooting us said, now you see we're back if you people want us or not. I was so afraid to even look at them. It happened so fast; they were only there for five minutes. Our brothers have done such a bad thing to us. What did we ever do to them? We know nothing of their rebel ways. That day I just looked around me and started to cry.18

Agnes

Victims and witnesses describe the rebels purposefully attempting to terrorize the civilian population by forcing them to watch atrocities being committed. They would then admonish them to behave or meet a similar fate. Civilians acting out of line by trying to escape or protect a family member were often killed in front of their family.

Agnes, twenty-five, together with her family and neighbors, was lined up and forced to watch the brutal execution of three neighbors on January 9. She recounted:

They [the rebels] ordered us out of our houses and then assigned a small rebel unit of six or eight to guard over each group of twenty or so civilians. It was very organized. They lined my family up with about twenty of my neighbors in a single file line on the street. They kept us standing for over one hour while they insulted us and others ransacked our houses. They got drunk on the alcohol we had left over from the Christmas holidays. Then, a few rebels called the first three civilians standing in the line; from the left. They were two men and one woman. They moved them about fifteen feet away and just opened up on them. They must have fired at least twenty shots into them. One of the rebels then turned to us and said, you've seen the example now if any of you dare move we'll do the same to you. And then we had to stand perfectly still for another one and one-half hours while our neighbors were lying dead on the street.19

Memunatu

Before commencing an attack on a compound, the rebels would frequently assemble everyone together and then select the ones they wanted to abduct. Most often those chosen for abduction were young girls, and boys of fighting age. Abductees were led away either before the attack began or after having to witness family members be killed.

Memunatu, twenty-one, was one of eight young women abducted from their compound on January 23, immediately after the execution of seven family members. She recounted:

I looked up and saw four rebels coming into the compound. Only one had a gun and the others were armed with axes and machetes. We were over forty in the compound and those that weren't able to escape were gathered together and told to sit down right outside the verandah. A few of us started singing, we want peace but one of the rebels said, you shut your mouths. You're all hypocrites. They [the rebels] then picked out eight of us young girls and one seventeen-year-old neighbor boy. They ordered us to get up and stand to one side. And then the one they called ACO Blood started the killing. He used a single barrel shotgun. He shot Alusine first, and then Hannah and Saphiatu who was nine months pregnant. Then they ran out of ammunition and set upon the rest with machetes and axes. They hit them on the neck and head. As we stood off in the corner we were begging them to stop but they kept insisting they'd leave no one alive. And then they forced us to go. We left our families bleeding and never knew who lived and who died. I was with them [the rebels] for eight days and when I finally escaped I found out that eight of my family and friends had been killed. In fact it was seven but because Saphiatu's baby was ready to be born, we count it as eight.20

Hasanatu

Hasanatu, eighteen, and several female members of her family were attacked by the rebels as they were attempting to flee the eastern suburb of Wellington on January 23. She described how six family members were abducted before the remainder were lined up and shot. She said:

The night before they'd burned our house so we decided the men should hide in the swamp and the women and children should try to hide in an abandoned house. So we left the men and the twelve of us took off down the road, but just as we were leaving our compound we were confronted by two rebels who asked us where we were going. We told him we were looking for a safer place. They ordered us to sit down and after looking us over picked out five young women and one ten-year-old boy. They were all my cousins. Then they pushed them and ordered them to go to the bush. The rest of us begged for our lives and then two of them started arguing over whether to kill us or not. I guess they decided because a few minutes later they ordered an old woman, a neighbor of ours, to stand up and as she did, they shot her. Then they told the rest of us to stand up and proceeded to shoot every one of us including my cousins Ramatu [four] and Jenneh [ten]. When they shot me in the shoulder I pretended I was dead. From the blood it looked like they'd got me in the heart. A few minutes later I heard the other rebels returning with all my cousins who'd been abducted who burst into tears when they saw all of us lying there. Then they [the rebels] said sarcastically are you related to any of these because if you are we've just finished them off. 21

Burning Alive

There were frequent accounts of the particularly sadistic practice of burning people alive. Children and the elderly seemed to be particularly vulnerable. There were a few documented cases of children being thrown into burning fires and many accounts of elderly people being left behind in a burning house as their children and grandchildren were forced to flee in haste. The pleas by other family members to retrieve their children or elderly parents were most often met with threats of death.

One witness described an incident in which a thirteen-year-old boy who was accused of having washed the clothes and shined the boots of ECOMOG soldiers at a checkpoint was later recognized by one of the rebels and thrown into a burning fire in the business district. Another incident involved a businessman who was forced at gunpoint into his Mercedes Benz and burned alive.

Maria

Maria, a fifty-three year old retired nurse, suffered third degree burns and a fractured femur after jumping from the second story of the house in which her daughter and mother were burned alive. She recounted:

In the early evening a group of about twenty rebels came near the house. As usual I sent my seventeen-year-old son to hide out back, and my five-year-old adopted daughter Titi upstairs to be with my elderly mother while I dealt with them. They [the rebels] asked for water so I got several gallons and gave them all as much as they wanted. I remember climbing the stairs and thanking God that this large group had left without doing anything to us. But just a few minutes later, another group came. The commander introduced himself as Captain Blood and started demanding that I hand over my daughters. I explained that I only have three sons but he accused me of lying. As I tried to convince him, he grabbed my kerosene lamp and proceeded to douse the sofa and set it alight. I begged him not to burn my house but he continued and pushed me towards the stairs, continuing to sprinkle kerosene as we went. The other two rebels guarded the entrances so no one could escape. Then he pushed me into my mother's room where she was lying in bed with Titi curled up, crying beside her. No sooner had he entered the room than he began pouring kerosene over the bed and said to my mother, mommy, it's enough for you, now it's time for you to die. He then tossed a match on the bed which went up in flames and pushed me out the door and into the next room. I heard them screaming but I couldn't do anything. He then doused the bed in that room, threw in a match and quickly left the room. As I tried to follow him he pushed me violently and I crashed onto the burning bed and cut my head on the bedboard. I got up with my leg burning and tried to leave but Captain Blood was leaning against the door and shouting, it's time for you to die, you're going to die there. I fell down on the floor with flames beginning to engulf the room and felt my chest tightening. I was bleeding from my head, my chest was filling up with smoke, my leg burning and I thought, Titi is dead, my mother is dead. God, do you want me to die here? Is it here I'm going to meet my maker? And, I just said no. I said no. I got up; burning my hand as I opened that door I rushed to the balcony where I saw a neighbor watching. I jumped from the second story of my house and felt my leg crack as I landed. I was dragged into the bushes where I waited with my other neighbors for the rebels to pass.22

Ibrahim

Ibrahim, fifty-five, described how two of his nieces were burned alive as their father begged to remove them before the rebels set their house on fire:

At around midnight, I was woken up by the sound of screaming and shouting near my cousins house. I saw four rebels standing outside his house. They screamed for him to open the door and then fired one shot after which everyone scattered, running out the back door into the bush. The rebels then started pouring kerosene on the house but in the meantime my cousin ran back and started screaming frantically, Amy two children are still inside; my four-and six-year-olds are sleeping. I want to take my children! to which the rebel replied, >If you dare enter I will kill you. By this time the house had taken fire. My cousin insisted again but the rebel became more aggressive, like he was going to shoot him so he had to run away. When he ran into the bush the first time his arms were full with his other children. He didn't mean to leave them. None of us ever thought the rebels would do something like that.23

The Use of Games to Maximize Terror

Atrocities were sometimes perpetrated within the context of games, in which the element of terror was maximized through the use of deception or teasing. Victims were sometimes given a choice as to how they wanted to be killed gunshot, machete, or burned alive, or were forced to listen to the rebels arguing over what atrocity to commit against them. Utilizing an old tactic they'd employed in past offensives, the rebels dressed up in ECOMOG uniforms, trying to illicit a favorable reaction, and would then catch the civilians who would later be punished.



After setting a house on fire, the rebels were witnessed positioning themselves near the entrances and then shooting at civilians as they tried to escape. Similarly, after killing civilians, the rebels were witnessed laying ambushes around the corpses, waiting for their relatives to retrieve them. There were numerous accounts of rebels who promised not to kill, rape or abduct an individual if the family would raise a given sum of money, but, upon receipt of the money, would commit the atrocity anyway.

Agnes

Agnes, twenty, witnessed the killing of at least twenty people on January 15 after rebels dressed as ECOMOG soldiers and, imitating a Nigerian accent, trapped a group of civilians who had come out on the street to celebrate what they thought was the arrival of ECOMOG forces. She recounted:

I was sitting in my house when I saw a group of about ten ECOMOG, or what I thought were ECOMOG, soldiers coming down the street. They were accompanied by a few women who were singing and dancing and saying, AECOMOG has liberated us! It's over! Come out of your houses! And then speaking with an accent like an Oga man [Nigerian] the soldiers said, where are the RUF rebels, where are the SLA soldiers? We've come to liberate you from those people. As they moved down the street they collected more and more civilians who said, Atanke, tanke [thank you], we're so tired of these people. We're happy you've come. You don't know how we've suffered, and so on. The women accompanying the rebels clapped their hands and got the rest of them dancing and when they'd [the rebels] collected about thirty or so people, just started to laugh. And, a few moments later said, oh, we see, so it's ECOMOG you want. We've really caught you now. The civilians started begging for forgiveness but the rebels, who had them surrounded by now, ordered them to lie on the ground and shot them one by one in the head and chest. There were men, women, and even a few children killed. I saw the rebels change the clips on their pistols until all of them were dead. I was watching this all from my window. Even if it had been ECOMOG, I wasn't in the mood to celebrate anything.24

Francis

Francis, thirty-six, was inside the unfinished Bashariah Mosque with scores of other civilians when a small boy waved a white flag at a patrol of what he thought were ECOMOG soldiers. The mosque was soon after attacked by rebel gunfire and rocket propelled grenades. He explained:

A friend of ours who'd escaped from the rebels told us that they had ECOMOG uniforms. So that day in the mosque when we saw a patrol of soldiers in ECOMOG uniforms we didn't welcome them; we kept silent. But there was a boy who hadn't been warned and before we could stop him he was waving a white cloth out the window. They [the rebels] started shooting immediately and just a few minutes later we heard the first crash of what I think was an RPG [rocket propelled grenade]. The first one killed a boy named Mohamed. Then a minute later as we were trying to get down the stairs, the second one hit right near us, this time killing two children. Another boy died later.25

Kaima

As Kaima, forty, was lying on the grounds of the Kissy Mental Hospital after having been hacked on the legs by the rebels, she watched as they shot at civilians trying to retrieve their dead and dying who'd been gunned down some hours earlier. She explained:

We saw hundreds of them [the rebels] coming down from the hill behind Mental [the mental hospital]. We tried to run but they caught about twenty-five of us. They separated the men from the women and then right there on the grounds, lined up the men and shot them. I was attacked by machetes later on and as I lay there wounded throughout the night I counted them; there were sixteen and they shot them all. I don't know if all of them died. Then over the next several hours, their wives and families who had run into the bushes came back and tried to see about their people. I guess they wanted to take their bodies and maybe even save the few that might have still been alive. But when the rebels saw the women, they took up position and shot at them as they crept out to get their people. It was hard to see if any of them [the relatives] were wounded but after the first few times none of them came back to fetch their men.26

Alusine

Alusine, thirty-nine, a civil servant, described the hours of terror he spent with his family as they were rounded up with other civilians, divided up to be held in rooms which they were told would each have different hours for execution. He explained:

At around 7:30 p.m., a group of seven of them [rebels] rounded us up from our houses and walked us down to a big house on Kissy Bypass Road. We were about 200 and when we arrived, the commander divided us into groups of about sixty and then explained how he planned to kill us all. He said the first group was the 9:00 room, the second group, that was ours, the l0:00 room and the last group the ll:00 room. At 9:00 p.m. sharp he was going to kill all of those in the first room, l0:00 p.m. he was going to kill us and so on. Then they led us into the rooms. So sure enough at just 9:00 p.m. we heard them open the door of the room right next to us, the 9:00 p.m. room, and started shooting. I couldn't see but I heard people running and screaming don't! It's the end of my life! They've killed my wife! They've taken my girl! and like that. The shooting went on for about ten minutes. Within our room we started crying. Muslims and Christians; we were all praying together and I started thinking of my children, my mother, how I hadn't yet helped my parents, how I hadn't really enjoyed my education. At l0:00 p.m. sharp they came to our door but we'd locked it from the inside. They threatened to burn us alive so we decided to open the door thinking that at least some of us might be able to escape. When they opened the door the heat that hit them was so intense they said, what kind of hell is that and then ordered us out on the street for execution. As we were taken outside, another commander happened to pass by and when he saw what was happening ordered there to be no more killing. The commander apologized, saying they were RUF rag-tag boys. The next morning we buried four bodies from the 9:00 o'clock room and we heard many, many were taken away wounded.27

Alpha

Alpha, thirty-five, described how from his hiding place he saw a group of rebels gather up twenty-four civilians, put them in a room, set it ablaze and then position themselves so as to be able to shoot them as they ran out:

As the killing was happening upstairs, the rebels gathered twenty-four of our neighbors who'd sought refuge in our house and put them under gunpoint in the back room. When the one called Dave came downstairs after having killed everyone, he asked for a lantern and said, I'm not going to waste my bullets on these people let me set this place alight. In fact, they'd already set the upstairs and part of the downstairs on fire. Then he sprayed kerosene on the civilians, closed the door and as he was leaning on it told them that those who paid 1,000 leones [U.S.50 cents] each to the rebel waiting at the window, would be set free. The civilians then started handing out the 1,000 leones to a few rebels waiting there. One girl came to the window and begged, saying she didn't have any money and the rebel collecting the money shot her in the face. Then, as the fire was really blazing, the rebels, announced they were leaving but instead positioned themselves around the back door with their guns pointed at the only exit and waited. However, the fire was too intense and those trapped inside were no longer able to move through the hall to get to the back door. By that time the people were really screaming and choking for air at the window. After about ten minutes the rebels finally left, thinking the people would burn to death, and my friend and I rushed to find an axe and break through the bars of the window and let everyone out.28

Targeting of Particular Groups

Nigerians, policemen, and journalists were those most directly targeted by the rebels during the January offensive. Foreign missionaries, members of the government and civil servants, human rights activists, successful business people, Lebanese and Indian nationals, and those vocal in their opposition to the AFRC junta during its nine month rule were also targeted, but to a lesser extent. A few witnesses saw rebels with lists of such people. Others were targeted by individual combatants settling old personal and political vendettas.

While there were many prominent members of society killed by the rebels, it is difficult to say to what extent they were targeted because of their position or simply because they were caught up in the wave of violence. There does not appear to be any ethnic element involved in the choice of victims.

Nigerians

Nigerian nationals, most of whom are traders and business people in Sierra Leone, and some of whom are long time Sierra Leone residents, suffered considerably during the January offensive. The Nigerian High Commission registered the deaths of sixty-three Nigerian nationals and evacuated two victims of arm amputation. Nearly all of the victims were men. Their houses and business were burned and the Nigerian High Commission was looted and set on fire.29

Nigeria has shown significant support for the government of Sierra Leone both militarily and politically. Nigerian troops make up the bulk of the 14,000 strong ECOMOG force, and Nigerian general Maxwell Khobe was last year seconded to the Sierra Leone army as chief of defense staff.

Nigerians were hunted down in their hiding places and murdered in particularly brutal and sadistic ways. Their attackers frequently accused them of actively spying for and supporting ECOMOG, and of supporting President Tejan Kabbah's government. Sierra Leonean civilians who were married to, associated with, or happened to be in the same place as a Nigerian national who came under attack, were also frequently targeted.

Abdul

Abdul, forty-six, witnessed the double amputation of limbs of two Nigerian businessmen and one Cameroonian, on January 21 in Kissy. One of the Nigerians and the Cameroonian were later killed. He recounted:

A big group of rebels rounded up about fifty of us and brought us to Leadenhall Street where they separated us and made us form two lines; men on one side, women and children on the other. Then they went around inspecting each one of us. Among us were two Nigerians; Mr. Ben and Mr. Ben's brother, and one man from Cameroon. One of the rebels quickly noticed Mr. Ben's wedding ring; he was married to a woman named Zainab who was standing in the women's line. The rebel told Mr. Ben he had a really nice ring and asked him his name but Mr. Ben didn't answer him. I think he was afraid to talk for fear they'd find out he was a Nigerian. The commander asked the rest of us if he was a deaf-mute but none of us said anything. He then started threatening us and said, We know there're Nigerians among you.Y Tell us who they are or you all die. We don't want them in our country and we will kill them all. Some of them [the rebels] sprinkled petrol on us and threatened to set us on fire. Finally Ben told the commander that he was married to a Sierra Leonean and his wife Zainab stood up and said, He is my husband but he is a businessman. I can show you the papers to prove it. The rebel responded that he didn't want to see any papers and as they pulled Mr. Ben out of the line, several of the rebels started arguing over whether to kill him, amputate his hands or set him on fire. When they'd decided to cut off his hands Mr. Ben started pleading saying he was a businessman, and shouted, I beg you don't cut my hand, Oh Jesus, Jesus. Then the axe man said, If Jesus himself comes here I'll amputate his hand as well. Then they ordered him at gunpoint to put his right hand face up on a table and they hacked it off with an axe. And then his left hand. The rebel then put his hands in Ben's blood and walked over to his wife, who was sobbing, and smeared it on her face. He told her if she continued crying he'd kill her. As this was happening Ben's brother started yelling, God what have you done to my brother. So they pulled him out and cut off his two hands as well. Then they pulled out the third one who started screaming that he wasn't a Nigerian, but was from Cameroon, but they cut off his hands as well. Then they sprinkled more petrol on Ben's brother, I think he even had tribal markings, and set him on fire. His hands were hanging off his arms and he was on fire screaming please don't kill me. They let him burn for five minutes before a commander let some us put the fire out with dust. Several of the rebels were dancing around the three of them saying, now you go tell ECOMOG about your problem. A few days later in the hospital I saw Zainab and Ben's brother. That's how I found out Mr. Ben had been killed.30

Hawa

Hawa, forty-three, a nurse in Good Shepherd Hospital in Wellington, described how on January 18 a Nigerian businessman who had several days earlier been admitted with a gunshot wound was dragged out of his hospital bed and killed by a group of rebels.

On January 8, a thirty-five-year-old Nigerian businessman named Joseph was brought to me by passers-by who'd found him in Wellington. He'd been shot three times by the rebels. I admitted him and put him upstairs because I thought it would be safer. On January 18 I heard a large commotion and then a group of fifteen rebels stormed my hospital, put a gun to my head and demanded I show them the ECOMOG lieutenant colonel you have hidden here. I told them I had no such person but in the meantime another ten of them, who'd run upstairs, found Joseph and proceeded to drag him down the stairs and out the door. As they passed me I heard him saying, Jesus have mercy upon your servant, Jesus have mercy upon your servant. When they had him outside another ten rebels dragged him half a block up, surrounded him, beat him and proceeded to cut off both his arms, both his legs, his ears, cut his throat and then shoot him several times. They never asked Joseph to identify himself. It was so brutal the way they killed him. They danced around his body and those who weren't doing the killing were cheering. They continued to threaten me for having harbored a Nigerian and a day later I had to close my hospital and flee.31

Gbassay

Gbassay, fourteen, described the January 19 killing of twelve people, including two Nigerians, who had sought refuge within the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star Church in Wellington. Among the dead were a well-known journalist Paul Mansaray, his wife, and their three children.

My auntie, uncle, and I went to the church that night as we'd been doing every night since the trouble began. We thought it was safer than sleeping at home. Shortly after arriving, five rebels with a lot of guns entered and said, we know you people are hiding ECOMOG soldiers in here. I could see a few other people outside the door and we later thought they were probably collaborators who'd told the rebels about the two Nigerians. They started harassing us and asking for money so one of us said, we just pray for you people, that you succeed in your mission. Many of the others were just pleading to be left alone. The rebels noticed that the Nigerians weren't talking and so eventually discovered their nationality. They then ordered us all outside the church but in the confusion and panic twelve of us got away. From where I was I could see them being walked at gunpoint with all the rebels pointing their guns at them and shouting, captured live, captured live. Around this time a second group of rebels arrived and asked the others who the civilians were to which they answered, These people are harboring Nigerians. The two groups started arguing over whether to just kill the Nigerians or to kill everyone. Then a few rebels ordered all twelve of them to lie face down on the ground and they started firing. The journalist tried to run with two of his children but they gunned them all down a few feet away.32

Police Officers

According to officials at the Sierra Leone Police Headquarters, eighty-five police officers, including two women, were killed during the January 6 rebel incursion.33 Many officers were killed while on duty and within the police stations, which came under heavy attack by the rebels. Sierra Leonean police, except the Special Security Division (SSD) are traditionally unarmed, and since the February l998 ECOMOG intervention to oust the AFRC Junta, even the SSD have not been allowed to carry weapons.34

Police officers interviewed believed they were targeted because they were seen by the ex-Sierra Leonean army members of the RUF as being traitors for not having fled with them when driven out of Freetown by ECOMOG forces in February l998 and for their role in investigating and preparing the cases against the twenty-four AFRC junta members accused of treason and later executed in October 1998.

Police officers described being hunted by rebel forces and having their family members harassed and sometimes killed. Because of the past relationship under the AFRC junta, they were well known and recognized by the ex-SLA members of the rebel army.

Abu

Abu, fifty, described how he was wounded in an attempt to execute him, specifically because he was a police officer:

On Wednesday morning I found out that Mr. D. of the SSD had been killed by the rebels as they advanced through Calaba Town. His wife described how the rebels knocked on his door as they passed and started screaming he's an SSD man and then stabbed him to death with knives. I started getting really worried. We fled to another house but in the meantime a commander calling himself Major S. took over my house, found out where I'd fled to and sent four other rebels to bring me to him. When I arrived the major told me he'd found police ID papers and announced that he'd made a vow to himself to kill any policeman or woman he encounters because, the police betrayed us and joined ECOMOG. He said, I don't mercy police officers. Then he ordered the other rebel boys to tie and beat me. Several of them gave me a severe beating in the face and abdomen and tied me with a wire. Major S. just sat there watching the whole thing and I noticed he was wearing a watch that had been given to me as a gift and that I only saved for special occasions. Then he put me in the corner of my house. He threw me on the ground so I was sitting, tied on the ground about a yard from Major S. and he said, you think we should remain in the bush don't you, but the bush is made for animals. It was between 5:45 and 5:50 p.m. I started to beg and told him but life is so very precious. Please, please don't kill me. I've been in the force for over thirty-four years and I'm not meant to die like this. When peace comes wouldn't you too want a government job? Then Major S. pointed a pistol at me and said, I've killed 213 people and you're going to make number 214. And then he shot me in the face. I fell down and put my tied hands in front of my face but he shot me again. I didn't know if I was in the world again until God woke me up late that night and I saw myself in a gutter. I had blood all over me and I felt my face to be huge. I dragged myself for some meters and hid until I was out of the road because there were still rebels around. When I felt it was safe I got myself to an ECOMOG checkpoint. As they were taking me to the hospital I saw so many corpses along that road. There must have been two hundred.35

Journalists

According to local journalists, seven Sierra Leonean and one United States citizen reporter were killed by rebel forces during the January 6 rebel offensive. There were also three journalists abducted, one of whom has since been released. One journalist had one of his eyes gouged out with a knife and many journalists suffered significant personal property damage and loss. The building housing two newspapers, the Concord Times and the Standard Times, was looted and later burned. Many journalists who went into hiding were later told that groups of rebels had come to their residences asking for them and demanding their capture.

While the atrocities committed against a few journalists resulted from arbitrary acts of violence, there is clear evidence to suggest that journalists were indeed sought after and targeted. Members of the independent press in Sierra Leonean have traditionally been vocal opponents of past military regimes, and have often worked in a climate of repression. The nine month rule of the AFRC/RUF Junta was no exception. Many pro-democracy newspapers continued to publish and were highly critical of the Junta, thus becoming deeply unpopular with them.

When the RUF returned to Freetown in January, they had the names of and sought after many of the individual journalists and publishers who had in the past written unfavorably of them. The relatives of Phillip Neville, the managing editor of the pro-democracy Standard Times described how rebels came to his home in Kissy with a list of opponents, which included the names of Phillip and several other journalists. According to the relatives, the rebels showed them the list and said, we've come to teach him a lesson. He's been writing negative things about us. We remember. 36

Mustapha Sesay

Mustapha Sesay, twenty-nine, was captured as he was fleeing the fighting in the Eastern suburb of Calaba town. After a brief trial he was accused of being a journalist and sentenced to death. He was able to escape but in the process had his right eye gouged out. He recounted:

On January 21 I saw a huge group of what looked like 5,000 civilians moving down the hills. We thought they were fleeing the rebels so my cousin and I, who had heard they [the rebels] had started chopping hands, thought we'd better flee with them. As we were running, I was all of a sudden fished out from this group. I felt someone seize me from behind and when I looked around I saw there were two men in rag-tag dress. I never thought they were rebels and one of them said they were taking me to ECOMOG. I asked them what I'd done and then started roughing me up and stole my watch and wallet. Then they said, We know you're a journalist working for one of those pro-democracy newspapers. You're the people passing information to ECOMOG about our movements. It was then I realized I'd been captured by the rebels. Then they grabbed me and walked me several blocks to their hide-out where I saw two other rebels. They were all armed with knives and machetes. I didn't see any guns. One of the rebels, who I assumed to be the commander, then stood up and the two who'd brought me gave him my ID card. He studied it for a minute while I stood before him and then announced, Mustapha Sesay. Journalist. Death Sentence. Then he reached into his shirt and pulled out a machete. A few moments later as the two who'd brought me held me tightly by my shorts, and their leader was in front, I felt something hit my eye and I realized I'd been hit. They had daggers and I thought maybe that was what hit my eye. They hit me four or five times on the head with a machete. I started fading. I was bleeding seriously and was very weak. I struggled with them for five minutes and finally fell on the ground and surrendered myself to death. But when I reached the ground I decided I had to escape. I struggled with them as they continued to strike me but eventually struggled my way out of their grip and ran for thirty meters. As I ran I could hear the commander saying, you've allowed the bastard to escape we'll shoot you if you don't stop running, but I didn't care. I preferred them killing me with a bullet to being hacked to death.37

Clergy Members

On January 12, Catholic Archbishop Joseph Henry Ganda, four Xavierian Fathers and six Sisters of Charity were abducted from their parish homes by RUF rebels. All but the Catholic archbishop were foreign nationals. For over ten days they were kept under the control of the RUF military police and moved from place to place. They were interrogated and a few of them, including Archbishop Ganda, suffered some form of physical abuse. As the rebels fled Kissy on January 20, Archbishop Ganda and three of the Xavierian fathers were able to escape. On January 22 while in the process of withdrawing from Freetown and fleeing into the surrounding hills, four Sisters of Charity were executed and one Italian father was shot. Since l991, many members of the Catholic clergy, almost always foreign nationals, have been abducted or come under attack by RUF rebels.

While abducted, the church men and women, and thirteen Indian nationals working for the Shankerdas and Sons plastics factory who were abducted at around the same time, were being guarded by the RUF military police. Witnesses to the execution of the nuns and shooting of the priest described elements of the RUF arguing over whether the killing should take place. They felt the rebels' intention was to take them into the bush as hostages, and that the order to protect them had been overridden by a renegade solider or unit.



Beatrice

Beatrice, twenty, was abducted with her sister on January 21 and forced by the rebels to retreat to the hills with thousands of other abductees. On January 22 she witnessed the gunning down of seven foreigners, three Sisters or Charity, one Xavierian Priest, and three Indian factory workers. She described the killing, which took place in Allen Town:

There were thousands of us from Kissy, Wellington, and Calaba Town who'd been taken away with them [the rebels]. Among us were seven foreigners; mostly Indians but also an African Sister of Charity they said was from Kenya and a white Priest. You could tell who were the sisters because they wore that white robe with blue trim. It was in the morning and they had us all seated on a street in Allen Town. There were hundreds of rebels all around the area. Many of the children were crying for their parents and the young women were crying and a few of them told us to shut up and that they were taking us into the bush. The rebels were drinking, laughing, and playing music. The foreigners were off to one side and we were seated about ten feet away. There was this rebel, and he had it out for the nuns. He said his name was Colonel Foday Bah and for the last day we'd heard him threatening to kill the nuns. Another rebel named Tina Musa, she was SAJ Musa's wife,38 kept insisting that they be left alone and they argued about it. So that morning she had to go on a mission and no sooner had she climbed the hill behind Allen town, than Foday Bay started in again on the nuns. At around l0:00 a.m. he got out his pistol and started threatening, but seriously now. The nuns started crying and praying and we did as well, so he announced, I am Colonel Foday Bah. I'm an SLA man. We came for peace but you people don't want it. You're the ones selling out our country. In the process he was hitting the nuns and others with a stick. Another rebel told him to leave them, but Foday threatened to kill him as well. When it became clear he was serious, the nuns started praying. And then he walked over to the black nun, and shot her with his pistol in the head. Then he shot a white man. And, then even as the others were begging and begging he shot a yellow [Asian] nun and then another yellow [Asian] one, and then the others. When he was finished he went over, removed their slippers and gave them to a few of the abductees. When Tina came back down the hill and saw the nuns had been killed she was furious and upset. She even cried for them.39

The Use of Civilians as Human Shields

According to interviews with witnesses, victims, and military personnel, the RUF's incursion plan into Freetown was built around the use of a massive human shield. In the early morning hours of January 6, thousands of rebels massed near the suburb of Calaba Town some eight miles east of Freetown and began to march westward, firing rapidly into the air. This served to frighten the civilian population of the densely populated east, provoking a mass exodus of people who fled in panic towards central Freetown. The rebels, many of whom were in civilian dress, then mixed in with the crowd. Other civilians were forced at gunpoint to join in with the crowd, which was by then massive. The majority of the rebel fighters, however, remained safely behind.

Civilians described being totally confused as to what was happening and surprised to find the rebels mixed in among them. As the mass of humanity approached the first ECOMOG position, and the civilian-dressed rebels pulled out their guns, witnesses described the horror they felt as they realized they were being used as a human shield.

This surprise proved both frustrating for the ECOMOG soldiers manning their positions and deadly for the civilians being used as a human shield. ECOMOG commanders and soldiers interviewed expressed their frustration at not being able to effectively engage the enemy and respond militarily because of the heavy civilian presence. According to witnesses, many people within the human shield, particularly those near the front, died in the crossfire once rebel soldiers, who'd mixed in with the human shield, and ECOMOG soldiers manning their positions began an exchange of fire. The tactic however, proved largely effective for the rebels. As the ECOMOG soldiers were forced to withdraw, both because they were overpowered and because they could not respond effectively, thousands of RUF rebels marched into Freetown and took up positions in and around the city center.

The use of civilians to advance towards military targets was not limited to the rebel entry into Freetown. It was also used in defense against ECOMOG air power. As the rebels advanced through downtown Freetown on January 7, civilians were forced out of their homes and forbidden to take cover as an ECOMOG jet flew over and later bombed the area. According to witnesses at the scene, some thirty civilians were killed in this attack.

Towards the end of the offensive, the rebels used thousands of abductees as human shields as they made a failed assault on the hills and peaks above Freetown and as they made their withdrawal from the capital. Again, escaped abductees describe scores of civilians, mostly young women, being killed by the ECOMOG mortar and artillery bombardment that ensued.

Corporal S.

Corporal S., an ECOMOG soldier who was stationed at a checkpoint near the entrance to the city, described seeing a mass of civilians moving towards them and the confusion that followed as fighting broke out with rebels they were not able to see:



I was stationed at [X] position with another twenty-five soldiers and about twenty Kamajors. We were on the alert because we'd been told the rebels were on their way coming from Allen Town. We lined up, weapons ready, on the street at about l:15 a.m.. We heard a lot of noise; people shouting, civilians, children, the sound of people walking and saw what I estimated to be more than 2,000 civilians carrying things on their heads and backs. Suddenly we saw an armed man in the crowd and said, who goes there. He refused to say anything and someone fired a shot and then the whole thing started. There was so much confusion, everyone was running helter skelter, boxes were flying, people were screaming and running everywhere, and people were falling and trying to run for safety. In the end I think many civilians were killed. The rebels later withdrew but regrouped and came back at us ten or fifteen minutes later. And the civilians kept coming. They were so many and we just didn't know who was among them. It was too difficult. It wasn't possible to hold that position.40

Inna

Inna, fifteen, was one of several hundred civilians rounded up from their homes on January 7, and forced by the rebels to walk through the street as an ECOMOG jet flew overhead. The group was later bombed and heavy civilian casualties ensued. She recounted:

They ordered me and my friend Ami at gunpoint to join a group of people they'd gathered from our street. A few blocks later we were met by a group of about 150 civilians who were being forced from their houses. They threatened anyone who refused to come with them. We continued walking for another thirty minutes and they [the rebels] kept picking up people along the way. It was when we got to Regent Road that we first heard the Alpha pass over.41 Between 1:50 and 2:00 p.m. it flew over us four times. Each time it passed the rebels would run and find safety wherever they could crying, AJet cover, jet cover! and running into phone booths, towards the sidewalks, into the cathedral. A few of them fired at the plane. We knew it was a bomber but we just didn't think it would do anything to us because we were civilians. But, anyway the rebels had their guns on us the whole time; there were at least five of them around me. By this time there were about two or three hundred of us, mostly women and children. And then the jet flew over again, there were a few explosions and I was knocked completely off my feet. I think three bombs dropped but I'm not sure. Most of the rebels were running away and there was dust everywhere. People were crying and screaming and there was blood everywhere. I was desperate to find Ami but I couldn't. The rebels started screaming, you see what ECOMOG is doing; you see how they target civilians. I saw one child who'd been cut in two and so many people, maybe ten, had their limbs hanging off. I counted ten bodies but I'm sure there were more. I looked and looked for Ami and finally recognized her by her curly hair. Her belly had been split open and I think at that moment she was dying. I finally got away and rushed straight to her mom to tell her what'd happened.42

Victor

Victor, forty-five, was hiding in an upper floor of a downtown building as he witnessed the same bombing. He described seeing the rebels pointing their guns at civilians to stop them from taking cover. He said:

The rebels were mixing in with the civilians in the front of the crowd but there was a much heavier concentration of them at the back. I was hiding, listening to my radio on the third floor of my building and at l:30 p.m. I heard a state announcement on 98.1 radio warning all civilians to go inside their houses because the ECOMOG jets would be searching for rebels. So at around 1:45 p.m. I heard the jets start to pass over. By this time the crowd was making its way down Wilberforce Street. Each time the jet passed by, the rebels moved to the side of the street to search for cover. But when the civilians tried to run as well, I saw the rebels pointing their guns towards the civilians to keep them in the middle of the street. And then it fell. I hit the floor, glass was breaking, people were screaming. And when the dust cleared about three minutes later I was able to see the carnage. They brought carts to take away the dead and wounded, and I counted about thirty bodies in the street. People were even cut in two.43

Saramba

Saramba, twenty, was one of hundreds of abductees who were used as a human shield in late January during one of the rebels' final attempts to attack ECOMOG positions. She described how civilians were killed as they came under heavy ECOMOG mortar and artillery bombardment near Bathurst Hill.

I was taken with my fifteen-year-old sister on January 20. My people cried but there was nothing they could do. They [the rebels] made us carry boxes and things they'd looted. As they were withdrawing through Calaba Town they were pulling lots of people from their houses. On the morning of January 25, the commanders ordered the other rebels to take us up the hills behind Calaba town and start moving towards Bathurst Hill. There were hundreds of us. We later heard them talk of how they were going to attack Wilberforce Barracks. But, as we were climbing the hill, at around 2:00 p.m., the bombardment started. It was terrifying. There was a whistling sound and then huge explosions. It went on for three hours and I saw about thirty people, civilians like me, dead or badly hurt. The pieces of the bombs cut you. I saw one beautiful fair-skinned girl who'd been cut up so badly and died right there. The rebels seemed to know when they were coming and knew how to take cover. They just weren't getting hit as much as we were. But of course there were a lot more of us.44

Christiana

Another abductee, Christiana, twenty-one, described being part of an abducted group during a rebel assault on Leicester Peak. She described seeing about one hundred corpses of people who were killed in the bombardment:

At around l0:00 p.m. on either January 28 or 29, they [the rebels] told all the abductees to start moving. There were thousands of us, mostly young women. As we walked it became clear they were headed for Leicester Peak and from there Wilberforce and it was obvious what they were using us for. They made some of us carry water and ammunition on our heads and we walked for hours and hours. They kept getting lost and didn't seem to know where they were going. When we arrived at Leicester Peak on around January 29, the ECOMOG gunship started shelling. I was so frightened. The bombs were coming from everywhere. They shelled us by air and from Wilberforce Barracks. It went on for hours and there was a terrible confusion. I ran and tried to take cover and people keep falling around me. People were dropping their boxes and diving for cover. There were so many dead; more than one hundred. I kept stepping on them as I was running and it seemed like most of them were the abductees. The rebels were in a panic and there was very little return fire. I ran and ran and because the rebels were fleeing, I was able to escape. That's how I was finally able to make it back to my family.45



The Use of Drugs by the RUF and Forced Drugging of Civilians

Most victims and witnesses describe widespread usage by the rebels of drugs, marijuana, and alcohol and believe most of the atrocities were committed while under the influence of these substances. Witnesses describe rebels self-administering drugs by cutting small incisions around their temples, cheeks, and other places on their faces in which a brown or white powder was inserted and then covered with plasters or adhesive tape. The rebels spoke of this drug as being cocaine. Others observed rebels cutting the undersides of their arms with a razor blade and injecting themselves, and of taking small blue pills.

Abductees who managed to escape reported having been forcibly injected with drugs, or being given food and drink laced with drugs. One father whose sixteen-year-old girl was abducted by the rebels saw her a few days later being led away with Athose plasters on her face and describing her behavior as drugged and out of it. One abductee asked a nine-year-old rebel about the drugs they were using and was told, it's a medicine they give us which makes us to have no respect for anybody; whatever we think to do, we just do it. Another rebel added, it gives us power and makes us fear nobody, and yet another said, It makes us feel so tall and you people [civilians] look so small.

Lynette

Lynette, sixteen, was abducted on January 21 and held by the rebels for several days during which time she was given drugs in her food, and witnessed other abductees being lined up and injected with drugs. She recounted:

From the first day they drugged us. They showed me some powder and said it was cocaine and was called brown-brown. I saw them put it in the food and after eating I felt dizzy. I felt crazy. One day I saw a group of rebels bring out about twenty boys all abductees between fifteen and twenty years old. They had them lined up under gunpoint and one by one called them forward to be injected in their arms with a needle. The boys begged them not to use needles but the rebels said it would give them power. About twenty minutes later the boys started screaming like they were crazy and some of them even passed out. Two of the rebels instructed the boys to scream, I want kill, I want kill and gave a few of them kerosene to take with them on one of their burn house raids.46

Joseph

Joseph described how he was abducted and brought to State House where he and several other civilians were held at gunpoint and injected with a brown substance:

They had me in a room in State House where they put a gun to my head and forced me to take that thing. They said, You take this so you won't feel afraid. It was a liquid and after some minutes I felt like I was flying and my head ached. It took me two weeks to get over that thing; my head felt heavy and confused. 47

Abdul

Abdul, twenty, another abductee held at State House, described large groups of rebels being called forward to receive pills and the distribution of drugs by rebel commanders and, on a few occasions, white mercenaries. He said:

There were hundreds of rebels in State House because it was their base. They were always drinking, smoking jamba [marijuana], sneezing a white powder, and some of them took these bright blue tablets. I was held there for three days and at least once a day one of the commanders would call people together saying, Ait's time for your medicine and give out those pills. I even saw two of the Ukrainians [white mercenaries] walking around distributing what I thought was probably cocaine from a small sugar box.48

Mutilation and Amputation

The practice of mutilation and, in particular, amputation of hands, arms, legs and other parts of the body was also widespread during the January RUF offensive. The rebels used axes, machetes, and knives to kill and maim hundreds of people, mostly men but also women and children.

During the month of January, Freetown's three main hospitals Connaught, Brookfield, and Netland Hospital treated ninety-seven victims of amputations resulting from attacks with axes and machetes. The majority of amputations were of the hands and arms, including twenty-six double amputations. One hospital treated over forty cases of attempted amputations, serious lacerations to the arms and legs, where medical staff were able to save the extremity or extremities.49 In these cases medical personnel note that the damage to the nerves, tendons, muscles, and bones frequently leads to some degree of decreased functioning.50 Wounds from lacerations to the head, neck, and other areas were also numerous.

What will never be known is the number of victims who died before being able to receive medical attention. Many people reported seeing corpses on the streets of Freetown with both hands dangling or missing. Public health workers and mortuary attendants responsible for the collection of corpses and burial within mass graves, also observed many bodies with missing limbs and lacerations.51 The main hospitals, which were located in western Freetown and under ECOMOG control, were inaccessible to the majority of victims in the east where the vast majority of amputations took place. Unable to cross front lines, victims frequently reported going two to three days before receiving medical attention.

Lansana

Lansana, twenty-four, was one of three brothers each to have one of their hands hacked off as they were attempting to flee towards an ECOMOG position on January 18. He described how one brother died near the site of the amputation:

The closer ECOMOG moved to our area, the more they [the rebels] started committing atrocities. At 9:00 a.m. me and my brothers Amara, seventeen, and Brima, twenty, decided to flee. We packed up a few things and then took off. About a quarter mile from our house, we rounded a bend and ran straight into a group of about fifty rebels. They argued about whether or not to kill us and then one of them said "let's send them to ECOMOG," which is their way of saying our arms should be cut. They told us to lie down in the road, face down they had their guns to our heads. The first to be cut was Brima; they cut his left hand with an axe. Then my left hand was hacked off and then Amara's right hand. They didn't ask us any questions or accuse of us anything. There was a lot of gunfire all around. The battle for the place was really on. We were all bleeding so much. Brima tried to get up a few times, but he stumbled and fell. The last time he only made it a few yards and then collapsed. He couldn't move, he fell down right there. I think he lost too much blood or just couldn't take the shock. It was so tense; the bullets were flying and me and Amara had no other choice. We had to leave our brother right there on the street. After we got out of the hospital we went back to the place where it happened. The people there told us Brima had been buried later that day in a common grave, right near where he fell.52

Alpha

Alpha, a victim of a machete wound to the head, described seeing two victims of limb amputations die on January 22 during the battle for the eastern suburb of Calaba Town:

As I ran towards the ECOMOG position, blood was gushing from my head. The rebels had whacked me three times with a machete. The ECOMOGs had their guns on me but when they saw I was bleeding, I heard them say, "this man isn't a rebel; he's one of your brothers. Come and help him." They brought me to the back of a house and lay me down next to three other badly wounded civilians; a woman with a gunshot and two men with their hands cut off. One man forced me to drink water and then I passed out. When I woke up some hours later I saw that all three of the civilians had died. I wanted to leave that place and go home. I didn't want to die there.53



Civilians were often mutilated in pairs or groups of up to eight, during small rebel operations in which victims were rounded up, made to form a line and their limbs amputated one after the other. Other amputations were done as punishment for having resisted the abduction of a family member or for fleeing from a rebel patrol. In other cases the rebels choose their victims randomly, frequently without asking a single question.

Ramatu

Ramatu, fifteen, and five other neighbors rounded up by the rebels, had their hands or arms amputated near the Kissy Mental Home where dozens of amputations were witnessed. She described how they hacked off her left arm:

Ten rebels broke into our house and started demanding money. Then they ordered us outside and grouped us together with about thirty other people from the area. They held us at gunpoint in a circle, and started pointing, "you, you, you," and telling us to follow them. They didn't ask us any questions. I don't know why they chose me, or the others. We were three men and three women. A few of them were young like me. They then marched us at gunpoint to the hill near Kissy Mental. They didn't say why they were taking us but we knew. When we arrived they ordered us to lay face down and started cutting us. They dragged us, they had us get down on our knees and put our arms on a concrete slab. They had others standing over us and holding us from behind. One rebel did all the cutting. A few had both hands cut off; others just one. And then they walked away. I couldn't even bury my arm. And now I don't think I'll ever find someone to marry me.54

Osman

Osman, forty-two, and a neighbor had both of their hands amputated in Kissy on January 25 when they were caught hiding in the banana trees behind their house. He recounted:

At around midnight, they [the rebels] started firing at our house and ordered us to come outside. I fled into the bush with my wife and four children. We found our neighbor and his family there and remained hiding throughout the night. Early the next morning we saw another group of rebels passing by but the neighbor's baby started to cry and gave away our position. We started running but they were too fast. They ordered me and the other man forward. They cursed and insulted us and without asking any questions pushed my friend to the ground and cut off both his hands with an axe. When they called me forward I begged them and offered them all my money. But, they did it anyway. The rebel who cut my hands had a white T-shirt with "Captain 2 Hands" written in what looked like blood. My four-year-old son was screaming, "Don't cut my papa's hand."55

The rebels would often single out one or two family members for amputation before massacring an entire compound, or amputate limbs of the survivors. Sometimes the men would be killed and the women attacked with machetes. The, by then mutilated, survivors were then instructed to take a verbal message to ECOMOG or members of the government.

Mani

Mani, forty-eight, watched as a commander ordered the execution of seven civilians and then singled him out for amputation on January 21. He said:

A group of thirteen rebels came to my house, poured kerosene on the furniture and then set it ablaze. I stumbled out of my house and started running up the street but was immediately caught by a group of ten rebels. The ordered me to join a group of seven other people from my neighborhood. The commander, who introduced himself as a Liberian, then ordered everyone but me to stand to one side and said, "I'm going to kill you all, so say good-bye to the world." He kept them there begging for three minutes and then at 7:03 p.m. I looked at my watch ordered another rebel to open fire on them. Then, the same Liberian said, "I'm ordered and paid by Sam Bockerie not to spare anyone and that is why I have killed. You saw it with your own eyes. But now I am ordering your hand to be cut." He ordered me to lay face down in the road and called forward a rebel with an axe who then hacked off my hand. It was hanging off limp and bleeding and when I saw it I started to cry. The rebels just walked away.56

Amadu

After massacring his neighbors in Kissy on January 20, Amadu, forty, described how the rebels hacked off his arms:

I was hiding in my house with my wife and family, when at around 9:30 p.m. we started hearing shouts and screams. Several minutes later we heard our neighbors begging, "don't kill me, I beg," and then I heard gunfire. I peeked out but one of them [rebels] saw me and screamed for me to come out. I ran back into my house but after a few minutes they doused it with kerosene and set it on fire. When the heat was too much we fled out the back but they caught me and marched me to my neighbor's compound. It was then I saw over what had happened to my neighbors; I saw at least twenty of them lying on the ground and I screamed, "you've killed my people there." One of them called for the man with the axe to come and hack off my arms and they did it right there in that compound. When they were done they said, "you go to Pa Kabbah and ask him for a new set of arms."57

Kaima

Kaima, forty, was captured with a group of civilians seeking refuge in the Kissy Mental Home. The rebels separated them gunning down the men and attacking the women with machetes. She received severe lacerations on both legs and, unable to walk, spent over three days without any medical attention. Due to the severity of the injury and degree of infection, both legs had to be amputated above the knee. She recounted:

They ordered us out of the building at gunpoint. There was a lot of confusion and we took off running. They caught about twenty-five of us and put the men on one side of the grounds and the women on the other. As they fired the men [shot them] I again took off running with my infant son on my back. But, I fell in a ditch and as I struggled to get up they had me surrounded. There were five of them and they started hacking at my legs. I guess they attacked my legs because I tried to run. As they were striking me with machetes, my baby was lying on the ground next to me. One of my attackers then raised his machete to strike my baby but I blocked the blow with my right hand and screamed, "it's enough now you have cut my legs and now you want to kill my baby it is enough. They then set upon the five other women with machetes; cutting the hand off one, the fingers off another and striking the head of yet another.58

The majority of amputations were done shortly before the rebels were forced to retreat from neighborhoods under their control. Victims and witnesses describe the rebels often mobilizing special cut hand squads which were then sent on operation. The leaders of some of these infamous squads introduced themselves to their victims as Captain 2 Hands, Betty Cut Hands, OC Cut Hands, and Adama Cut Hands. After being captured, the victims were sometimes made to wait until the cut hands unit arrived. Several of the commanders and members of these units were adolescents or women.

Tejan

Tejan, a forty-three year old driver, described the brutal way in which a fifteen-year-old combatant from one of these units named "Commander Cut Hands" hacked off his two hands in Kissy on January 20:

After they set fire to my house they caught me trying to escape out the back door. They then brought me to the compound next door where I saw they'd captured two of my neighbors. They started arguing over whether to kill me or cut my hands. Then the one who seemed to be in charge gave the order to amputate both my hands and called forward a fifteen-year-old boy they called "Commander Cut Hands." I refused to lie down. They beat me and it took several of them to hold me. They tripped me and when I fell to the ground three of them had to sit on my legs and back and another few had to hold my arms. Then they took out that axe. I was crying and after they'd hacked off both of my hands I screamed, "just kill me, kill me." They also cut off the hands of my two neighbors. I feared they might attack me because I was a driver for the SLPP [Sierra Leone People's Party], the President's party, but they never found that out. They knew nothing about me.59

Allieu

The particularly macabre practice of filling up bags with amputated hands and fingers was witnessed by several people interviewed by Human Rights Watch. Another witness hiding within a house in Calaba Town on January 24 witnessed a commander calling himself "Dr. Blood" summon five rebels and order them to begin a "cut hands" operation. He then said, "I want a bag of hands from Kissy, one from Wellington, and one from Calaba Town." 60

Allieu, fifty, a civil servant with the customs department, described seeing a bloody rice bag full of hands during the brutal amputation of both of his arms in Kissy on January 21:

They surrounded my family and one of them said, "Since Pa Kabbah won't give us peace, we have come to cut your hands." I begged them not to harm my wife and children so they fired their guns in the air and told them to run away. They then marched me up the hill to the grounds of St. Patrick's Catholic Church where I saw over one hundred rebels. They ordered me to put my left arm on a tree truck and then they swung the axe from behind and hacked it off. They kept talking about President Kabbah and as they ordered me to put my other hand. I screamed, "but I don't know anything about politics" and one of them answered, "but you voted for Kabbah." Then he hacked off my remaining hand. Blood was spurting out of my arms. I was weak and kept falling as I tried to get up. They started laughing at me and I shouted, "just kill me, kill me, look at how you've left me." They spit on me and started pounding me and then several of them took a hammer, held me down and started knocking out my teeth. I left four of them [teeth] in the dirt. They danced around me and said, "we've really got you now, here you will die." As I lay there bleeding in the church courtyard I saw them amputate the hands of two other men. And, then a rebel walked by with a white rice bag, with blood dripping out the bottom, and said - pointing to the hands lying on the groundC"put those things in here."61

Children and in some cases even toddlers were not immune from attack. In one case, children were even singled out. The youngest known amputation victim from January l999 was a boy aged just one year and eight months. One small clinic in Kissy during January l999 treated twenty-one children from three to fifteen years old for laceration wounds, mutilation, and amputation. Five of these children were from three to five years old.62

Lucia

Lucia, ten, described how on January 13 she and two of her friends were chosen out of a large group, taken away, and had both of their arms amputated:

At around 4:00 in the afternoon I was sitting under the big mango tree in front of my house with all of my family and neighbors when we saw a group of four rebels coming down the road. We got up and ran inside. When they arrived they ordered us all outside. They had a container of petrol and asked for matches. We thought they were going to burn our house but instead they started pointing at several of us; me, my cousin Miata who is twelve, and my friend Finda who is fifteen. They marched us up the hill where we were joined by another rebel and two more adult men. And, then they started hacking off our arms. When it was my turn they pushed me to the ground and told me to put my right hand on a big stone. One rebel held me down, one put his foot on my arm while the one they called "Blood" hacked it off with a big axe. Then they did the same thing with my left hand. They hit each hand one time each. We couldn't run; they had their guns on us the whole time. It was so fast; the whole thing only took about ten minutes. They then walked us back down the hill and back to our compound. When my mother saw me, with my hands dangling from my arms and blood spurting everywhere she screamed and burst out crying. When they were cutting me, I heard one of them say, "now you will know the rebels; now you will know the bitterness of the war."63

Rape and Sexual Assault

Throughout the January offensive RUF forces perpetrated systematic, organized, and widespread sexual violence against girls and women including individual and gang-rape, sexual assault with objects such as sticks and firewood, and sexual slavery. These sexual crimes were most often characterized by extraordinary brutality and frequently preceded or followed by violent acts against other family members.

Human Rights Watch took testimonies from over fifty girls and women who were sexually abused by the rebels during the January incursion. And, while it is impossible to determine the precise number of victims, doctors and counselors report having treated several hundred girls and women for the physical and psychological effects of sexual abuse perpetrated by the rebels during this time. One Sierra Leonean human rights group registered 255 cases of rape, but believes this number to be a serious underestimation given cultural factors which lead to underreporting.64 A doctor working within a camp for those displaced by the January fighting said he treated at least twenty-five women for vaginal bleeding resulting from rape, most of whom were girls between the ages of twelve and fifteen, and scores of other rape victims.65

While some of the victims interviewed were raped within their homes, most report having been rounded together up with other girls at gunpoint and taken to houses and buildings which, during the occupation, served as rebel bases and command centers. The girls and women were rounded up from their homes, as they were fleeing, and from centers of refuge such as mosques, churches, and camps for displaced people. Once with the rebels in these bases, nearly all victims described witnessing the sexual abuse of other girls and young women also being held there. Following the abuse, some victims were allowed to go home, but ordered to report back to the rebel base the following day or be murdered.

Once captive the victims were frequently Ashared and Adivided among the combatants who would rape them on a daily basis for anywhere from one day to several weeks. Of the victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch, over half reported being raped by more than one combatant. The victims often reported being kept locked up in a room with many other girls and taken out only to cook, do laundry, and fetch water. The rebels frequently told the victims they would be taken to the bush and made into a rebel wife and indeed young girls and women made up the majority of the hundreds of civilians witnessed to have been later abducted as the rebels retreated out of Freetown.

It is difficult to know what percentage of girls and women abducted by the rebels are sexually abused while being held behind rebel lines. However, several girls who've managed to escape say the percentage is very high. Those who remain within the rebel ranks most often become attached to one rebel who then refers to her as his rebel wife. Many become pregnant, have children and remain with the rebels for years. Several girls and women abducted during January described pairing up and attaching themselves to one rebel so as to avoid gang-rape, be given a degree of protection, and be subjected to less hardship.66

The organized way in which victims frequently described being rounded up and taken, and the number of rebels participating in these abductions, suggests an element of premeditation and planning on the part of the RUF command. Victims frequently described being taken by rebel patrols of from two to seven combatants who clearly stated their intent to sexually abuse them. That some of these patrols were being led by rebels referring to themselves as commanders, that victims often described being sexually abused by or in the presence of men referred to as commanders, and that some victims were told they had been selected specifically to be given to a commander, suggests some of the sexual abuse was indeed perpetrated under the direction of and with the consent of members of the RUF hierarchy. Human Rights Watch was able to document only one instance of a rebel commander stopping a rape, which occurred within a hospital when a combatant attempted to rape a female nurse.67



Marie

Marie, sixteen, was fleeing the fighting in central Freetown with three other girls on January 7 when she ran into a patrol of five heavily armed rebels. She and her companions were then abducted and taken to a rebel house where they were gang-raped for three days. She said:

The rebels put us in a room and told us to wait. A few minutes later they took out my friend and then four of them came back in the room. They were all big men, at least twenty-five or thirty. They told me to undress. I refused and told them I was a virgin, that it was not right in the eyes of God to rape a virgin and that it would effect me for the rest of my life. One of them slapped me hard on the face while the others hit me with their guns. One said, shut up. We don't care if you're a virgin. We've already done so many, why should you be an exception. Then another one said, Aif she refuses let's just bring her out naked and put her under a firing squad. I started crying and crying; I was so frightened. Then while a few of them started ripping my clothes off, another one went behind me and bit me leaving a huge wound on my back. I was then pushed down to the ground. I was still crying so the one who'd slapped me took a rag and tied my mouth. I could hardly breath. Then the first one forced open my legs and raped me. The four of them spent two hours with me and each raped me at least twice. I was so ashamed. I was bleeding so much and when they finally undid my mouth I begged them to leave me but they told me to shut up and that they would use me until they were satisfied. I spent three days in that house.68

Saramba

Rebels rounded up seven girls from their street in the evening of January 13 and brought them to a command center in Kissy. All of the girls reported being raped. One of them, Saramba, thirteen, described what happened :

We were hiding under the bed when they came but they eventually found us. They ordered me, my sister Sarah and friend Sia to follow them to a truck. A few minutes later we picked up four more girls being held by another group of rebels. They took us to a big house a few miles away.



When we arrived we saw over one hundred rebels gathered there and as we were led into the house they started cheering and I heard a few of them say well done, you've brought us more women. When we were in the bush it was only ECOMOG enjoying you. Now it is our turn. 69

Beatrice

Beatrice, twenty-five, went out briefly on January 21 to look for a few cups of rice from a little store half a block from her house in Wellington. On the way back she and another woman were confronted by a group of ten rebels who sexually assaulted them with burning firewood. She recounted:

They asked us for money but we said we didn't have any so they ordered us to take off our clothes, putting a gun to our throats to make sure we did. We begged them to leave us but they ordered us to lie down on the dirt ground, face up, and open our legs. At least four of them had their guns to our throats and stomachs to make sure we obeyed. The rest of them surrounded us and then a big rebel went to the kitchen of a near-by house and took a piece of burning firewood from the fire. He then squatted down and with his two hands forced it in and out of my vagina one or two times. Then he returned to the fire and got another piece and then a third. I felt as if I was being stabbed inside and nearly fainted from the pain. Then they did the same thing to the woman laying next to me. While doing this to both of us I heard them say, This is the way we're going to fuck you. You hypocrites; as soon as you see ECOMOG you start pointing fingers at us. And then they left and I dragged myself home, blood flowing from my vagina.70

Sophie

Sophie, twenty-four, was in her house in Kissy when on January 21, a group of three rebels burst in demanding money and killed her husband. She was then abducted and gang-raped. She said:

They kept asking for money and my husband kept begging them for forgiveness for not having any. We are poor and the other groups of rebels had already taken all we had. They started waving their guns and then the one named Abdul killed him. Right in front of my children. I burst into tears and tried to run to my husband but they pulled me back and put a gun to me saying that if I didn't go with them they'd kill me as well. He was bleeding, my children were crying and then they forced me at gunpoint to walk out that door and follow them. We walked all the way to the Sierra Leone Brewery in Wellington which seemed like an HQ for them. By this time we were three women and ten rebels. When we arrived they put us in a dirty room and then used the three of us at the same time for the entire night. They were so rough; they slapped me and tore my clothes. Four of them used me it 