Sierra Leone: via radio la guerriglia parlava così

Dall'anno scorso si sta tenendo in Sierra Leone e in Olanda il processo all'ex dittatore liberiano Charles Taylor, su cui pendono 650 capi d'accusa. Il processo, istituito dalle autorità sierraleonesi e dalle Nazioni Unite, cerca di fare luce sulle atrocità e le violazioni dei diritti umani avvenute in Sierra Leone dal 1996. Taylor è coinvolto per i suoi rapporti con il Revolutionary United Front (RUF) di Foday Sankoh e Sam Bockarie e per le azioni svolte oltreconfine dal suo esercito di "liberazione" NLFL. Dopo anni di guerriglia Taylor riuscì a farsi eleggere presidente della Liberia con l'implicita minaccia di una ripresa delle azioni militari nel caso l'elezione non fosse andata a buon fine per lui. Un gran simpaticone, che secondo Wikipedia avrebbe ispirato la figura del dittatore africano di un recente film in cui Nicholas Cage interpreta uno spregiudicato (e intendo spregiudicato) mercante d'armi. Taylor è stato arrestato dalle guardie di frontiera mentre cercava di scappare dalla Nigeria, dove era in esilio tra il 2003 e il 2006. A bordo del suo veicolo c'erano un sacco di soldi e di eroina.
In questi giorni la corte di giustizia sta ascoltando un testimone molto importante, Perry Kamara, uno degli operatori delle trasmissioni radio del RUF (tutte le trasmissioni, ha raccontato Kamara, si svolgevano sui 70,11 MHz). AllAfrica.com rimanda al blog CharlesTaylorTrial.org, dove vengono riportate fedelmente le cronache del processo. Questa la relazione di ieri, 5 febbraio, nella sede del tribunale all'Aia. Il sito della Corte contiene un archivio audio delle sedute.

Prosecutor Mohamed Bangura continued his examination of the former RUF radio communications officer Perry Kamara.
Through a series of questions Perry Kamara testifies to the following:

Radio Communications/Procedures
• Kamara described in detail the procedures used by the RUF for transmitting radio messages.
• Each base/station has a logbook. When one was full, a new one would be created. Some stations had up to 5 logbooks, and all logbooks, codes and radio’s were the responsibility of the radio operator.
• All operators had access to all the messages transmitted at any station, the majority of them being military messages such as instructions for attacks and ambushes, supplies of arms and ammunition, and instructions concerning peace talks or the release of hostages.
• Codenames of radio stations and of radio operators were changed every one or two months. Examples of codenames of radio stations: Shining Star 2, Bravo Zulu 4, Alfa 2. Examples of codenames of radio operators: System (the Witness himself), Ebony Prince, Shining Star, Solution.
• There was radio contact between Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh almost daily. Sometimes Sankoh would speak with Taylor in person, sometimes the radio operator would receive a message, decode it and bring it. There would always be a radio standby on the frequency 70110.
• Kamara was active as a radio operator from the time he received training in 1991 until he was disarmed.
• Kamara was shown a document and identified it as a logbook from a station other than his own, but similar to the one he used to use.
• The Witness is shown a page of the logbook and confirmed that it was a radio message received by the station where this logbook was kept. The message was from Mr. Martin to “Black Moses,” a codename for Samuel Bockarie. Mr. Martin was a member of the RUF, a coordinator responsible for transporting arms and ammunition coming from Mr. Taylor.
• Kamara was also shown another message from Bockarie at a time when he had a conflict with the RUF and decided to go to Liberia to meet Charles Taylor. The message is not coded because no military issues were raised. All radio stations received this message and kept a copy for reference purposes.