Communicating Justice

Joseph Cheeseman, September 2008.
Photo © BBC World Service Trust

September 15, 2008

Another Senior Member of the defunct Sierra Leonean Rebel Group, Revolutionary United Front, RUF has taken the stand in The Hague alleging that Charles Taylor received diamonds from the rebels, and supplied arms and ammunition to them in return. As Joseph Cheeseman reports, Mohammed Kabba, the overall Signal Commander of the RUF told the court Mr. Taylor did not pay for some of the diamonds.
Click here to listen to Joseph Cheeseman's report (September 15, 2008)

September 16, 2008
Witnesses after witnesses have testified before the Special Court for Sierra Leone that officials of the RUF had communication links with Charles Taylor’s administration in Monrovia. But what was the role of Mr. Taylor himself in all the communications between Liberia and the RUF in Sierra Leone?  Well, the Overall Signal Commander of the RUF on cross-examination has been testifying to Taylor’s role.
Click here to listen to Joseph Cheeseman's report (September 16, 2008)

September 17, 2008
Former Liberian President, Charles Taylor is facing trial on eleven count charges, one of which is his alleged supply of arms and ammunition to the Sierra Leonean Rebel Group, the RUF. But since the trial resumed after its one month judicial break, Taylor’s defence team has been persistent in trying to convince the judges that most of the RUF arms and ammunition came from other sources and not from Charles Taylor.
Click here to listen to Joseph Cheeseman's report (September 17, 2008)

September 18, 2008
Detained Former Liberian President, Charles Taylor is accused of aiding the Sierra Leonean Rebel, RUF to commit sexual violence, abduction and forced labour, murder, physical violence, cruel treatment, acts of terrorism among others against the civilian population of that West African State. A Crime Based Witness or Victim of the Sierra Leonean Civil War on direct examination in The Hague has testified to treatments she and her fellow captives received at the hands of the RUF and AFRC.
Click here to listen to Joseph Cheeseman's report (September 18, 2008)

September 19, 2008
The prosecution of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in its indictment attributed the atrocities committed by the RUF and the AFRC in Sierra Leone to the support of Former Liberian President Charles Taylor. But Mr. Taylor’s defence team tries to shift the blame to other forces like the West African Peace Keeping Force, ECOMOG and the Civil Defence Force known as Kamajors.
Click here to listen to Joseph Cheeseman's report (September 19, 2008)