Maada Bio -comes with EXCESS BAGGAGEhttp://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200520388.shtml
Paragraph 112 of the Summary Judgment against Charles Taylor as read out on April 26th 2012 by Justice Richard Lussick, the Presiding Judge states:
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During a radio conversation with Foday Sankoh, following the attack on Sierra Rutile in 1994, the Accused [Charles Taylor] advised the RUF leader to send an External Delegation to Côte d’Ivoire. In Côte d’Ivoire, the delegates met Musa Cissé, an NPFL representative, who allowed them to use his radio for communications with Sankoh. The Accused, through contact with Musa Cissé, invited members of the External Delegation to Liberia, where he met them twice in 1995. In December 1995 the Accused met members of the External Delegation in Cote d’Ivoire on the occasion of the publication of “Footpaths to Democracy”, at which time he gave them CFA 10 million francs for their maintenance.
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SO WHO OR WHAT WAS THIS EXTERNAL DELEGATION? And what else happened in Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) in December 1995? Mrs. Agnes Deen Jalloh (nee Bio), is elder sister of Julius Maada Bio, the Presidential candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) which enjoys bastion of its support in South-Eastern Sierra Leone where the RUF launched its war. Currently influential SLPP members supported RUF in its initial stages. The former SLPP Leader and President, Alhaji Tejan Kabah publicly stated at the Yamoussoukro Peace Talks that in 1991, when he first heard of Sierra Leonean RUF rebels waging a war in 1991 to remove the then APC Government of General Momoh from power, he was very happy and supported the RUF; only withdrawing his support when he disagreed with their savage methods against innocent civilians. Without a doubt, Tejan Kabbah is indeed a perfect gentleman and obviously the RUF savagery did not seat well with his conscience. However, that was Ahmad Tejan Kabbah the gentleman with a conscience; Many others continued their support for the RUF despite the savagery.
One
such person was Mrs. Agnes Deen-Jalloh (nee Bio). She is much older than Julius
Maada Bio. Agnes raised Maada Bio and put him through school. Her husband, Dr.
Deen-Jalloh and her were reported to have been ‘forced’ to join the RUF in
early stages of the war. Agnes and her husband were so senior in RUF rank
that they became trusted to be the ones to be sent out of Sierra Leone as RUF
diplomats (External Delegation) who were given posh residential
houses in an Ivorian town known as Danane near the border with Liberia. Members of the ‘External Delegation’ including Agnes
Deen-Jalloh (nee Bio) lived a posh lifestyle in Ivory Coast from as far back as
1994 as now stated in the judgment against Charles Taylor.
During all this time his sister was living in Danane, Ivory Coast as an RUF Diplomat, Julius Maada Bio was the Deputy Head of State in Sierra Leone and later, additionally, the Chief of Defence Staff directly supervising the war against his sister’s RUF inside Sierra Leone. He never made this known to the public.
Now, let me reveal today some facts which have been classified for a long time. In December 1995 when he was Deputy Head of State and Chief of Defence Staff, Julius Maada Bio secretly sent three of his most trusted soldiers on a secret mission to meet with his RUF sister in Danane, Ivory Coast. The soldiers all wore plain clothes and posed as civilians.
Unfortunately, they got arrested by Ivory Coast Government soldiers at the border when their identities were proven to be Sierra Leone soldiers camouflaged as civilians.
Such deception on the part of Sierra Leone soldiers crossing into Ivory Coast through Liberia had proven to be a diplomatic headache for Captain Valentine Strasser, the then Sierra Leone Head of State, whom it is reported, knew nothing of the mission of his Deputy!
Strasser, it is reported by my sources during my investigations, was furious and considering action against Julius Maada Bio, his Deputy. Few weeks later, the very next month, (January 1996) Strasser was abruptly overthrown by Bio..
These are facts which very few Sierra Leoneans know about but which a proper examination of the war (like some of us have extensively done) will produce for Historians.
There has always been a puzzle for me over the reason behind Maada Bio sending soldiers secretly into Ivory Coast in December 1995. His reported explanation to his boss had been that he had beeninformed his sister was being held as a captive in Danane town in Ivory Coast and so he had sent those commandos to kidnap his sister and bring her back by road to Sierra Leone through Liberia.That was his explanation back then.
This is one of the issues I had personally asked Foday Sankoh about when I met him. His response was that he gave a request from the bush, for the Ivorian Government to release Maada Bio’s soldiers and that his request was promptly adhered to and the men were released. Before the men could re-enter Sierra Leone, Maada Bio had overthrown Valentine Strasser.
To those floating the talk of Liberia and other States having to pay us reparation, let me tell you it is going to be very interesting when the Liberians and other accused nationalities will get Agnes Deen Jalloh to be de-briefed for the international court when the SLPP’s proposed ‘President’ Julius Maada Bio files papers at THE HAGUE. The elder sister who raised him up served as diplomatic emissary for the RUF at the time they were performing horrors against their fellow Sierra Leoneans.
Many aggrieved South Eastern Sierra Leoneans are quite right about the horrors
which many of their relatives went through at the hands of the RUF but it still
does not take away the fact that many other South-Easterners warmly welcomed the RUF andprovided succor for them. SamaBanya is claiming “only one Paramount
Chief” willingly supported the RUF and he got forgiven by the SLPP Government.That alone, is evidence of
top level collaboration of at least one South-Eastern leader. However,
it was not just “only one Paramount Chief”.
As
I have insisted before, my extensive investigations have proven to me beyond
all reasonable doubts that there exists a supremacist mentality amongst a
certain small group of persons (a clique) from the South East who believe only
they are well ordained to rule. As a result, when they are not in power, they will do ANYTHING
to over-turn the status quo including attacking their own people in the South East. The majority of
South-Easterners are very decent, peace-loving, friendly, warm and docile
people.During all this time his sister was living in Danane, Ivory Coast as an RUF Diplomat, Julius Maada Bio was the Deputy Head of State in Sierra Leone and later, additionally, the Chief of Defence Staff directly supervising the war against his sister’s RUF inside Sierra Leone. He never made this known to the public.
Now, let me reveal today some facts which have been classified for a long time. In December 1995 when he was Deputy Head of State and Chief of Defence Staff, Julius Maada Bio secretly sent three of his most trusted soldiers on a secret mission to meet with his RUF sister in Danane, Ivory Coast. The soldiers all wore plain clothes and posed as civilians.
Unfortunately, they got arrested by Ivory Coast Government soldiers at the border when their identities were proven to be Sierra Leone soldiers camouflaged as civilians.
Such deception on the part of Sierra Leone soldiers crossing into Ivory Coast through Liberia had proven to be a diplomatic headache for Captain Valentine Strasser, the then Sierra Leone Head of State, whom it is reported, knew nothing of the mission of his Deputy!
Strasser, it is reported by my sources during my investigations, was furious and considering action against Julius Maada Bio, his Deputy. Few weeks later, the very next month, (January 1996) Strasser was abruptly overthrown by Bio..
These are facts which very few Sierra Leoneans know about but which a proper examination of the war (like some of us have extensively done) will produce for Historians.
There has always been a puzzle for me over the reason behind Maada Bio sending soldiers secretly into Ivory Coast in December 1995. His reported explanation to his boss had been that he had beeninformed his sister was being held as a captive in Danane town in Ivory Coast and so he had sent those commandos to kidnap his sister and bring her back by road to Sierra Leone through Liberia.That was his explanation back then.
This is one of the issues I had personally asked Foday Sankoh about when I met him. His response was that he gave a request from the bush, for the Ivorian Government to release Maada Bio’s soldiers and that his request was promptly adhered to and the men were released. Before the men could re-enter Sierra Leone, Maada Bio had overthrown Valentine Strasser.
To those floating the talk of Liberia and other States having to pay us reparation, let me tell you it is going to be very interesting when the Liberians and other accused nationalities will get Agnes Deen Jalloh to be de-briefed for the international court when the SLPP’s proposed ‘President’ Julius Maada Bio files papers at THE HAGUE. The elder sister who raised him up served as diplomatic emissary for the RUF at the time they were performing horrors against their fellow Sierra Leoneans.
Many aggrieved South Eastern Sierra Leoneans are quite right about the horrors
which many of their relatives went through at the hands of the RUF but it still
does not take away the fact that many other South-Easterners warmly welcomed the RUF andprovided succor for them. SamaBanya is claiming “only one Paramount
Chief” willingly supported the RUF and he got forgiven by the SLPP Government.That alone, is evidence of
top level collaboration of at least one South-Eastern leader. However,
it was not just “only one Paramount Chief”.
However, this minority, tiny clique of supremacists indoctrinates their offsprings to embrace the same supremacist mentality. So, there are various generational levels of members of this clique from the South East. It is only when we learn their true nature which has been handed down successive generational lines that we can understand a significant problem facing our country today and in the future.
Members of this clique will do ANYTHING to be the ones ruling the country. This includes suppressing and oppressing their people in the South and East. This is one of the reasons behind their dire and desperate need to always instill tribalism into our body politics.
That is the only way this clique can survive by promoting sectionalism at any slight opportunity. The SLPP for them is just a vehicle through which they attain power. The late Dr. Soyei (RIP) recognized this very well in several radio and newspaper interviews he gave.
Turning weapons and lethal blows against their own in order to get to power is not unusual for this clique. It is only when Historians really investigate the war that we will learn what happened, understand this clique and always be prepared for them at all times. Right now, we are underestimating them because we do not know the true story of the war.
We do not understand what really happened because we have been presented with a SCAPEGOAT in the form of Charles Taylor by folks like Mr. Lans Gberie who has cleverly and deceitfully distorted History to cloud the reality of the war. His theory is obviously nonsense but him and others in his clique are actively promoting it. They are helped by the fact that Taylor possesses a terrible reputation over his dealings in Liberia.
I will continue Part 3 later but meanwhile, here is the quote from an Awareness Times report which is very relevant for a better understanding of the mindset of how a certain South-Eastern clique operates. It concerns a report about the violence which was launched in the Southern Province against South-easterners who did not support Julius Maada Bio’s bid to be the SLPP Presidential Candidate.
“On the part of Mr. Jabbie, former SLPP P.R.O. for Bo District, he recounted how he was violently attacked by supporters of Mr. Maada Bio in Moyamba two weekends ago during the SLPP’s Southern Province regional elections. He said he had to be rushed to a hospital in Freetown where he was still admitted suffering from “severe abdominal and body pains” as a result of the beating he suffered from Bio supporters”.
As this quote above of a report quoting South-Easterners brutalizing their fellow South-Easterners for power, turning of weapons and lethal blows against their own in order to get to power is not unusual for this clique.
STAY TUNED FOR PART 3
© Copyright by Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200520388.shtml
M Alieu Iscandari Sylvia
you have not mentioned the numerous incidences of truck loads of sierra leone
military weapons that war dispatched by bio for the provinces which
"MYSTERIOUSLY " was taken over by the RUF in ambushes where no one
was killed and the military drivers were allowed to take their empty trucks
back to Freetown after the weapons had been taken from them.
Victor Yandi
wow! So amazing a history!!Abubakarr Jalloh These are hard facts; praying the 2012 elections will be peaceful. With regards the war, is Taylor the only scape goat?
Tommy King Sylvia Olayinka Blyden Are you saying former President Kabba is a gentleman and a man of conscience. The families of Late Col. A.K.Sesay and other will disagree with you.
Is Ahmed Tejan Kabba a gentleman with a concience?
Maada Bio handing over to Kabba in March 1996
Tommy King cast doubt on this acolade pronounced by Dr. Sylvia Blyden. Such modesty would not enhance reality and must be avoided. I do not think the families of all those arrested and executed under Kabba will agree: including all those innocent civilians (250 or so) whose names were listed as collaborators the AFRC/RUF regim, most of whom locked up at Pademba Road Prison, some now dead from the desease and strain the picked up in prison.
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CAPTAIN STRASSER IS OUSTED FROM OFFICE
A VERY
PRIVATE ‘COUP’ [16 JANUARY 1996]
http://www.focus-on-sierra-leone.co.uk/Vol2_1.htm {Click Link -for full storry}
It followed a showdown between the Chairman and members of the NPRC and the Supreme Council of State. Ex-Chairman Strasser was physically manhandled by his colleagues and frogmarched to a waiting helicopter, his wrists restrained with handcuffs. He had fallen out with his once loyal friends. When it came to the crunch they did not show him any mercy. Strasser was thus unceremoniously and gracelessly bundled into the plane and despatched to the neighbouring Republic of Guinea - adding to the statistics in the growing list of de-stooled Heads of State of Sierra Leone. In Guinea, Strasser will be joining the man whom he overthrew - ex President Joseph Momoh and hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans driven by the civil war who are living in dreadful conditions in refugee camps.
Depending
on whom you talk to, the sequence of events before and on Tuesday, 16 January
tends to vary from one raconteur to the next. The manner of his exit from the
country is not disputed.
One
version - probably the most accurate one - is that Strasser felt so aggrieved
by his colleagues that he decided to sack those members of his Cabinet who
opposed his bid for leadership of the National Unity Party (NUP). The
‘coup’ was therefore a preemptive strike by the refusniks who included
top military men like Brigadier Maada Bio, Lt Colonel Tom Nyuma,
Lt Col Komba Mondeh, Lt Col Reginald Glover, Lt Col Idriss
Kamara, Lt Col Karefa-Kargbo and the Secretary-General of the NPRC,
Mr John Benjamin. For his part Strasser allegedly had the support of his
"loyal" ministers - mainly civilians - like Mr Hindolo Trye,
Mr Sam Maligie, Mr Arnold Gooding, Mr Victor Brandon, Mr Lesley
Scott, Miss Christiana Thorpe and Dr Mohammed Samura. Some
say that legislation was at that very time being drafted for lowering the
adopted age limit to enable Strasser to stake a claim for leadership of the NUP
and the presidency.
What
brought matters to a head was the alleged attempt by Captain Strasser to
install himself as the leader of the NUP and thus its Presidential candidate.
This, despite the fact that under the Constitution he of a mere 29 years was
barred by virtue of the age limit of 40 imposed on presidential aspirants. In a
confrontation with members of the NPRC- cum-NUP, Strasser was left in no
doubt that he would not be allowed to carry out his plan. He was reminded that
he was the first person to be asked if he had any interest in becoming the
leader of their party which he turned down, saying he would be leaving office
after the elections. In accordance with his expressed wish, colleges had been
found for him and other military colleagues who wanted to proceed abroad for
further studies. Others like Bio and Nyuma had decided to stay in the army. He
was told bluntly that it would be dishonourable for him to renege on all these undertakings
which would prove an embarrassment for the regime.
Strasser argued - here
again the details vary -
that the election of Dr John Karimu as leader of the NUP was improper. He
protested that it was not right that Karimu was selected at a conclave.
[is this what
the SLPP copied in selecting Maada Bio as SLPP Presidential candidate for2012
elections?]
The names of candidates should have been presented
at the NUP’s convention, not before. His opponents countered that any one who
wished to contest had been given adequate time to give notice to enter the
contest after paying the stipulated fees. Strasser did not do so and therefore
disqualified himself.
Strasser’s
friends claim that the
"coup makers" had no intention of handing power to civilians and that
they were using the NUP as a smoke screen for the NPRC. They point
singularly to the
new Cabinet which they claim consists of the clones of Benjamin, Karimu and Bio. They say that there was a plot
to deceive the country which Strasser was going to spoil. It is difficult to
believe this story. Captain Strasser could have gone to the country to explain
what was happening. He might have had sympathy. Why didn’t he?
Undaunted
but, by now, irate and unhappy Strasser summoned Karimu - his former
minister of Finance and the man preferred by the others as the Presidential
candidate of the NUP - to his office. He tried
to persuade him to stand down in his favour but Karimu stood his ground, arguing that the decision to select
him was not his but the Party’s and could only be reversed by it.
On Tuesday,
16 January,[1996] unknown to
Strasser who had gone to take the salute at a
passing out parade at Benguema, just outside Freetown, in the morning, his
colleagues hatched the plan for his dethronement. Their moment came at a scheduled afternoon meeting of
the Supreme Council of State at the Defence HQ at Cockerill in
Freetown. Just as he
entered the inner precincts his body guards were disarmed and he was put under
arrest. His once "trusted" bodyguard Captain Patrick
Koigor-Amara allegedly refused to let Strasser’s other security
access to the store containing the personal arsenal; he was promoted for his
cooperation by the new Chairman.
A
scuffle ensued but this
was quickly brought under control, Strasser coming off
the worst for it. He was allegedly punched in
the face and others had a go at him with a few
body blows. Another former close friend reportedly tore
off his captain’s stripes. The poor
man was humiliated and manhandled. They manacled him and
frog marched him into a helicopter for his banishment to Guinea. A self-styled revolutionary had fallen foul
of his comrades. Will the others learn?
http://www.focus-on-sierra-leone.co.uk/Vol2_1.htm
Volume 2 No 1 December 95/January 1996