Agence France-Presse,
THE HAGUE: A former insider working for Charles Taylor's security services told the war crimes trial of the former Liberian president Wednesday that Taylor gave money and weapons to RUF rebels in Sierra Leone.
Taylor is accused of arming, training and controlling the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for still-unknown quantities of diamonds. The prosecution is relying on so-called insider witnesses to establish a link between Taylor and the rebels who committed atrocities on the ground in Sierra Leone.
Varmuyan Sherif, who worked for Taylor's Special Security Service and organized his motorcade, was ordered by Taylor to accompany RUF leader Sam Bockarie on a trip to Liberia in late 1998 or early 1999.
Bockarie, also known as Mosquito, met with Taylor and apparently recounted the details of that meeting to Sherif who was bringing him back to Sierra Leone.
“Sam Bockarie told me: '(Taylor) gave me money, I have money and he gave me a satellite phone so anytime I want I can communicate with that person (Taylor),'” Sherif told the court, recounting Bockarie's version of the events.
After bringing Bockarie back to Sierra Leone, Sherif met again with Taylor who told him to bring weapons to the RUF and secure a safe passage for the fighters to Monrovia.
“Taylor called me back and said whatever arms and ammunition I am bringing into Monrovia I could bring them to Sam Bockarie,” he told the judges.
“He also said I should speak to the former fighters in Lofa county (close to the border with Sierra Leone) that there should be an open corridor and nobody should harm RUF fighters” who crossed into Liberia, Sherif added.
Sherif worked directly under Benjamin Yeaten whom prosecutors said was Taylor's right hand man and the principal liaison between the Liberian president and the forces in Sierra Leone.
Taylor faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity including terrorising the civilian population, murder, rape and the use of child soldiers. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to the prosecution of the Special Court for Sierra Leone Taylor controlled RUF rebel forces in neighbouring Sierra Leone who went on a blood diamond-funded rampage of killing, mutilation and rape during the 1991-2001 civil war.
Around 120,000 people were killed in the conflict, with rebels mutilating thousands more, cutting off arms, legs, ears or noses.
Sherif told the court of various trips he or his subordinates made to Sam Bockarie to give him arms and ammunition. He also recalled seeing the RUF leader on two occasions in Monrovia, where Bockarie met with Taylor's right-hand man Yeaten. Sherif told judges that he overheard Yeaten instructing Bockarie to launch an RUF attack from Sierra Leone on neighbouring Guinea.
The prosecution is trying to prove that Taylor supported and financed the rebels in return for so-called blood diamonds that the rebels mined in Sierra Leone.
Sherif told the judges that on one trip with Bockarie he noticed the RUF leader was carrying diamonds.
“I saw a mayonnaise bottle in his pocket and I realized there were diamonds in there,” he said.
“One of my senior officers even said we can take these diamonds and go away to another country,” he added.
