Direct and Cross-Examination of Prosectuion Witness Komba Sumana

On Monday morning, Prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian called the 51st Prosecution witness, Komba Sumana, who testified in Kono.   Sumana was born in Koidu in 1984, from the Kono tribe and speaks Kono and Krio.   Sumana was still a young boy when there was a change of government, living with his family in Koidu Town, and was captured by rebels and taken to Kissi Town, where he was forced to become an SBU (member of a Small Boy Unit) and made to perform domestic duties such as fetching water and pounding rice. The witness stayed, as is custom, with his capturers: Wuya, Opong and Alie.   Sumana testified that one night these three went on patrol, captured women and children, and raped two of the women captured.

Sumana then testified about the command structure of the rebel camps in the area: Superman was the commander of Kissi Town, General Issa was the commander of PC Ground and Morris Kallon was the commander of Banya Ground. All commanders were subordinate to Mosquito.

The witness testified to being taken beyond PC Ground at one point, where five civilians were tied up in front of General Issa. The witness walked away and subsequently heard gunshots. When he returned, the five civilians had been shot to death. Another time the witness testified to seeing a shot civilian, and then hearing that Morris Kallon had killed the man because he had let one of Kallon’s sheep die.

Sumana testified to being sent to PC Ground and selected by Morris Kallon as one of the individuals to be trained in Kailahun for two months.   The witness indicated that one woman trainer named Monica spoke Liberian English. At the end of the training Mosquito, who brought two vehicles with guns, told the trainees that they would be going back to Kono “to clear Kono.” The witness was told that the soldiers in the vehicles accompanying Mosquito were Charles Taylor’s soldiers who had come from Buedu and brought weapons: RPG bombs, mortars, AK’s and large guns. The witness received an AK 47, but no ammunition.

When the weapons were distributed, Mosquito again said they would go to Kono to clear Kono. They arrived in PC Ground and General Issa ordered “Operation No Living Thing.” Sumana escaped to Kissi Town, where he stayed with Commander Wallace’s wife.   The attack was not successful.   He testified that Superman then called a meeting and said he was moving everybody in Kissi Town to Tombodu.

Sambana testified that in Tombodu there was a rebel called Savage, who killed one civilian per day.   Apparently, there was a pit – referred to as the ‘savage pit’ - with decaying bodies to prove it.   The group then moved to Kurubonla where there were three commanders: SAJ Musa, Five-Five and General Bropleh. There were also members of three different groups: STF (Special Task Force), RUF (Revolutionary United Front) and SLA (Sierra Leonean Army).

There was apparently infighting between SAJ Musa and Sam Bockarie, but the attack on Freetown continued.   The witness testified to the continuing relations between Bockarie, SAJ Musa and others during the attack on Freetown, though the attack was ultimately unsuccessful.

Eventually Komba Sumana was reunited with his family, who had lost two members (Komba’s sister Kumba and his brother A-boy had been killed and their bodies have never been found) and Komba’s father had his right arm amputated.

Lead Defense Counsel Courtenay Griffiths conducted the cross-examination of Komba Sumana. Griffiths put before the witness that Sumana could not accurately identify years and months.   Sumana agreed but explained that after the war he has talked with his father about the war and is now more able to tell when the events took place. Griffiths also suggested to the witness that, as he had made a mistake regarding his age now, he could also have made a mistake concerning his age at the time of his military training and that he at that time was in fact 15 and not 14 years old. The witness maintained that before he was captured by the rebels, his father told him that he was 14 years old.

Griffiths established that after his capture Sumana worked for Major Wallace and his wife as a domestic for about three weeks before his military training started. The witness said he did not know the surname of Colonel Monica was Pierson, he only knew her as Monica. Sumana stated that he received his military training from her in Buedu. Griffiths suggested that at the time of Sumana’s training Colonel Monica was at a military camp called Bonombu, 14 miles from Buedu. Sumana maintained that he was trained by Monica and that the camp was called Buedu or at least in the vicinity of Buedu.

Griffiths established that during all his time with the rebels the witness never heard mention of the name Charles Taylor in connection with radio messages. Apart from one truck with guns, the witness also never saw any other shipments of arms and/or ammunition.   Defense Counsel Griffiths then read parts of Sumana’s statements indicating that Superman did not treat civilians badly. The witness confirmed that he never saw Superman kill or mistreat civilians and in Superman’s camp he never saw any killings take place. Superman also ordered that women should not be raped. Lastly, the RUF set up the Military Police and Sumana agreed that they did a good job maintaining order and discipline.

Griffiths established that the witness was not only involved in fighting with the RUF during the attacks on Kabala in Koinadugu District, but also in other attacks. Sumana stated that during this fighting he did not kill or amputate anyone, and did not rape or loot. Griffiths suggested that this was because he had the example of persons like Superman and Wallace who were not involved in and did not promote such atrocities, and the witness agreed.

Direct Examination of Prosecution Witness, TF1-305

Prosecutor Brenda Hollis called the 52nd prosecution witness, TF1-305, a female crime base witness, who will testify in Kono with voice and image protective measures.    She testified that in 1998 she lived near Mambudu Checkpoint, where she heard people saying that the rebels were coming to take their leader, Johnny Paul Koroma, to Koidu and that they would pass there. Four days later the witness heard gunshots, ran away into the bush and hid in a hut for about two weeks. Ten men then came with guns and identified themselves as rebels and spoke English and Liberian English.

The witness then testified that eight rebels took her to the back of the hut, where she was told to strip naked or they would kill her.   At this point, Defense Counsel Terry Munyard stated that the Defense does not dispute the fact that the witness was raped by all eight rebels and details were not required. The witness started to cry and took a few minutes to recover. When the witness continued her testimony, she indicated she was raped by all eight rebels, who told her that if she cried or screamed, they would kill her. During the gang rape, the commander did not interfere. Afterwards, the rebels stole the belongings of the witness and her relatives and left.

The witness testified that she and her relatives then went to Kangama, Goroma Chiefdom, Kono District, where the Kamajors were in charge. The witness stayed there until the ECOMOG forces arrived. Early 1999 she went to Pewahun, where ECOMOG took her and others to Kenema and she stayed there for three years in a Lebanese camp. There was another camp with people from Liberia nearby.   She could not understand the language the people from this camp spoke but was told it was Liberian English. She noticed it was similar to the language she had heard the rebels speaking.

At this point, the Court went into private session for security reasons and the well-being of the witness.   The Court remained in private session for the entire day of Wednesday, October 8^th.   On October 9^th, the Court observed a mid-session break and will reconvene on Monday morning, October 13, 2008.