October 31, 2002	Thursday	Sha’aban 24,1423

FREETOWN (Sierra Leone): Every day from dawn to dusk, the once-silent scenery along Jomo Kenyatta Road in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown is shattered by the sound of bulldozers battling to dislodge stubborn granite rocks.

Dump trucks overfilled with brown soil move around the four hectare lot of scrub land, while some 300 construction workers wearing rusty helmets lay columns on the outline of what within two months will become the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone is gripped with Special Court fever. In the press and in street corner discussions, everyone is betting on who will be indicted and tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity in what was one of Africa’s most brutal civil wars.

Officially no names have been mentioned, and Special Court prosecutor David Crane would only say those that bearing the greatest responsibility for the atrocities committed during the 10-year war will be indicted.

But the rumour mill already has a list, starting with septuagenarian rebel leader Foday Sankoh. Other good bets are Sam Bockari, once the most feared rebel commando, as well as a string of others in the former military junta, the pro-government Kamajor militia.

Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) began fighting the government in 1991, in a campaign that saw tens of thousands of civilians killed, savagely mutilated, raped or displaced.

The group is infamous for chopping off the limbs of civilians — including women and children. But it argues that mutilation was practised by others including the state-backed civil militia.

William Haglad, a forensics expert on assignment for the court, estimates that more than 30 mass graves are scattered around the country.

Those charged through the Special Court will have defence lawyers during their trial. During their pre-trial detention, an international security agency will keep 24-hour “suicide watch” over their cells, to prevent them from taking their own lives.—AFP