11:00

Prosecutor Brenda Hollis continues to question witness Varmuyan Sherif:

The witness is showing on a map the route for weapons shipments from Monrovia to Lofa.  The map shows three routes.

Wit: The main route was used by big and small vehicles.  To Gbarnga it is a coal tar road.  Some of the divisions had big trucks with six tires.  The Taiwanese gave some trucks to Mr. Taylor and he distributed them among the army.  Marine Division had a truck.  The trucks followed the main (green) route.  Another road (yellow route) from Monrovia to Klay, to Tubmanburg to Lofa Bridge, to United Logging Company (ULC), to Vahun.  This was used for arms and ammuntion for the Navy Division and for RUF, which patrolled there.  RUF crossed from Sierra Leone to Bomaru, to Vahun, to ULC, to SLC camp.  They had a right a right to go all over Lofa.  SLC was also a logging company.  The RUF would go to ULC in moving to the SLC area if coming from Vahun.  Four-wheel drives took this yellow route.  In the dry season, big trucks could also use that road.  In rainy season, only 4-wheel drives.  Another (red route) was used when the war was intensifying.  The LURD set ambushes, so we used this other route.  (Witness traces it on the map.)  At one junction on the red route, you could forcibly use civilians to carry ammuntion on their heads.  When you get to a town, you tell the town chief to call the people together.  The Chiefs of Staff ordered this.  You had a mandate to do anything that you can to see that the ammunition got to its destination.  Mr. Taylor gave the instruction not to use a particular road because of an ambush, to use the forest road.  He said to use the civilians to carry ammuntion to its destination.  A civilian would carry a very heavy load through deep forest for two days, day and night.  Then another day and a half.

Pros: Yesterday you said Yeaten gave an instruction to Bockarie to attack Guinea from Sierra Leone.  How do you know?

Wit: I took Abu Keita to a meeting with Yeaten and Bockarie.  When they were talking, I overheard Yeaten say to Bockarie to attack Sierra Leone.  That attack was carried out.  When RUF came to Liberia to assist against the LURD, both RUF and various militias fighting for Taylor crossed from the Liberian side into Guinea.  They also used Sierra Leone to cross into Guinea to attack.  Yeaten ordered Abu Keita to attack Guinea from Foya.

Pros: Do you know these names?  A person called “Salami”?

Wit: Yes, one of the RUF who came to Liberia to help the militias.  Yeaten took him and made him a senior bodyguard commander.

Pros: Mustapha Jallow?

Wit: From Burkina Faso, worked for Taylor

Pros: Eddie Kanneh?

Wit: I got to know him.  He visited me at my house in Monrovia when he had a relationship with my former wife.  He was from Bo, Sierra Leone.  He was the RUF diamond manager.

Pros: Jack the Rebel?

Wit: Yes, he is George Duana, a Gbandi by tribe, one of the junior forces for the NPFL.  Junior forces were the first people trained in Liberia after the NPFL first came to Liberia.  Same as junior commandos.

Pros: Who is “Senegalese”?

Wit: Yes, a trustworthy bodyguard for Taylor.

Pros: Memuna?

Wit: Worked at the RUF guesthouse with Rashim, who is a Sierra Leonean.  Rashim was one of Foday Sankoh’s bodyguards.  Taylor made him the commander at the guesthouse.

Court is now adjourning for a half-hour break.  It will reconvene at 11:00.  With the half-hour delay in the video and audio feed to the media center, our rolling summary will continue at 11:30.