Three Senior RUF Commander Convicted

The Special Court for Sierra Leone on Wednesday convicted three commanders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The three financed their activities by trading in conflict diamonds.

According to Global Witness, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, were directly involved in a criminal enterprise with former Liberian president Charles Taylor to take control of the diamond fields in eastern Sierra Leone. 

After they took control of the mines, the RUF forced kidnapped civilians to dig for diamonds, which its commanders then traded for military and financial support. 

RUF is held responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands fellow Sierra Leoneans. It became infamous for its signature systematic amputation of victims’ limbs. 

Global Witness said it welcomes the conviction. “These verdicts are a chilling reminder of how the trade in diamonds and other natural resources has underwritten some of the worst war crimes of the past two decades,” said Global Witness campaigner Mike Davis.

The organization took part in establishing and shaping the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, formed to curtail the trade in conflict diamonds - diamonds mined in areas of conflict and traded to finance the continuation of the conflict.

Davis warned that natural resources continue to fuel conflict, pointing to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, “where armed groups are financing themselves through the trade in minerals and committing atrocities against the civilian population.”

“Diamond mining continues to finance rebel activities in northern Ivory Coast, and the trade in illicit diamonds …is increasing globally,” Davis claims. “Governments and the diamond industry must live up to their promise and make Kimberley Process controls more robust, if the scheme is to fulfill its mandate and curtail the threat of conflict diamonds.”