By Aminata Phidelia Allie and Mustapha Sesay
Executive Director of the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL – SL), Ibrahim Tommy says all evidence shows that President Ernest Bai Koroma signed an expulsion order for the fugitive Senegalese arms dealer, Ibrahim Bah aka Ibrahim Baldeh to leave Sierra Leone on Saturday 27 July. Sounding distraught, he expressed utter disappointment at “this sad development” which he said came despite assurances given to him by Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Frank Kargbo that he and government would support efforts to bring Baldeh to justice. Baldeh who was indicted in July on charges bordering on kidnapping, assault, threatening to kill and false imprisonment, among others, was supposed to appear in court last week but did not show up. His lawyer assured the court that he would do so yesterday, Monday 5 August. He did not, making the earlier assurances that he would appear, to be a smokescreen, Tommy said. Baldeh who is on a UN travel ban for his alleged role in the rebel war in Sierra Leone, is believed to have been an arms supplier and close confidante to the former Liberian president and war criminal Charles Taylor. “With Bah’s deportation, Sierra Leone has taken a real step backward on promoting justice for grave crimes committed the country’s brutal civil conflict that ended in 2002” says Elise Keppler, Associate Director, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch. She said “Sierra Leone has ignored the interests of victims who deserve to see those implicated in the worst abuses be investigated.” Addressing journalists before the fast moving story developed to its present stage, Tommy had issued a one-week ultimatum for the government to clear the air about the whereabouts of Baldeh. He said that it was obvious the accused had been living within the jurisdiction since 2008 but wondered: “why would he be expelled now because we have an indictment against him?” Supported by the Swedish based organization, Civitas Maxima, CARL-SL indicted and charged the accused to court sometime this year for his alleged role in the Sierra Leone civil war that lasted for eleven years. © Politico 06/08/13
