FREETOWN (AFP), Suara Indonesia News - Sierra Leone's ex-president, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, on Friday praised ex-rebel leader Issa Sesay for his "huge contribution" to ending a civil war when he took the stand during Sesay's war crimes trial.
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The Special Court for Sierra Leone ordered Kabbah to testify in Sesay's case. Kabbah said the rebel leader was "very, very cooperative" during the disarmament process that ended the 1991-2001 conflict.
"He (Sesay) proved to be credible and made a huge contribution to the disarmament process," Kabbah told the judges.
The former president, clad in a dark grey suit, was watched by a packed public gallery of some 300 people.
Kabbah, who was president of Sierra Leone between 1996 and 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007, assisted in UN-brokered peace talks with RUF rebels including the late RUF leader Foday Sankoh and Sesay.
As the last of the witnesses for Sesay's defence Kabbah spoke of the various Lome Peace meetings in 1999 which led to signing of the Lome Peace Accord to end the civil war.
He explained how Sankoh was replaced by Sesay, who he said "was obedient and looked a very harmless young man and cooperative."
Sesay, a one-time leader of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), has been on trial with two other RUF leaders since July 2004.
Charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity including unlawful killings, sexual violence, abductions, use of child soldiers and attacks on UN personnel, he has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Prosecutors say RUF fighters committed numerous atrocities. By the time the war ended in 2001, about 120,000 people had been killed and tens of thousands of others had been mutilated, their arms, legs, ears or noses chopped off.
The former president was originally due to testify as a defence witness Thursday but had tried to avoid giving evidence in public. His efforts were rejected by judges at the Sierra Leone tribunal.
Finally on the stand one day later, the former president insisted that he was proud of the court and "prepared to come any time" is he was called to testify.
In the public gallery there were mixed feelings about Kabbah's court appearance.
"This is history which I did not want to pass by," octogenarian Simon Moriba told AFP.
Saio Turay, who said he had his leg chopped off by rebels in an attack in 2000, said he came to see with his own eyes if the former president would take the stand.
"I wanted to see whether it was true that Kabbah has been summoned by the court and whether he would come," he told AFP.
"The court has given us hope that there is justice."
A former pro-government fighter was bitter that Kabbah had testified for the former rebel leader while he previously refused to take the stand to support Sam Hinga Norman, the former leader of the pro-government Civil Defence Forces (CDF).
Norman is still considered a national hero by many for having fought the RUF rebels, He died in February 2007 of natural causes in a Dakar military hospital while he was awaiting the outcome of his own war crimes trial before the Sierra Leone tribunal.
"Remember he declined to testify for Norman," said the man, who asked not to be identified.
"Now things have gone full circle. I wished he had done the same for Norman as he did today," he said.
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The Special Court for Sierra Leone ordered Kabbah to testify in Sesay's case. Kabbah said the rebel leader was "very, very cooperative" during the disarmament process that ended the 1991-2001 conflict.
"He (Sesay) proved to be credible and made a huge contribution to the disarmament process," Kabbah told the judges.
The former president, clad in a dark grey suit, was watched by a packed public gallery of some 300 people.
Kabbah, who was president of Sierra Leone between 1996 and 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007, assisted in UN-brokered peace talks with RUF rebels including the late RUF leader Foday Sankoh and Sesay.
As the last of the witnesses for Sesay's defence Kabbah spoke of the various Lome Peace meetings in 1999 which led to signing of the Lome Peace Accord to end the civil war.
He explained how Sankoh was replaced by Sesay, who he said "was obedient and looked a very harmless young man and cooperative."
Sesay, a one-time leader of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), has been on trial with two other RUF leaders since July 2004.
Charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity including unlawful killings, sexual violence, abductions, use of child soldiers and attacks on UN personnel, he has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Prosecutors say RUF fighters committed numerous atrocities. By the time the war ended in 2001, about 120,000 people had been killed and tens of thousands of others had been mutilated, their arms, legs, ears or noses chopped off.
The former president was originally due to testify as a defence witness Thursday but had tried to avoid giving evidence in public. His efforts were rejected by judges at the Sierra Leone tribunal.
Finally on the stand one day later, the former president insisted that he was proud of the court and "prepared to come any time" is he was called to testify.
In the public gallery there were mixed feelings about Kabbah's court appearance.
"This is history which I did not want to pass by," octogenarian Simon Moriba told AFP.
Saio Turay, who said he had his leg chopped off by rebels in an attack in 2000, said he came to see with his own eyes if the former president would take the stand.
"I wanted to see whether it was true that Kabbah has been summoned by the court and whether he would come," he told AFP.
"The court has given us hope that there is justice."
A former pro-government fighter was bitter that Kabbah had testified for the former rebel leader while he previously refused to take the stand to support Sam Hinga Norman, the former leader of the pro-government Civil Defence Forces (CDF).
Norman is still considered a national hero by many for having fought the RUF rebels, He died in February 2007 of natural causes in a Dakar military hospital while he was awaiting the outcome of his own war crimes trial before the Sierra Leone tribunal.
"Remember he declined to testify for Norman," said the man, who asked not to be identified.
"Now things have gone full circle. I wished he had done the same for Norman as he did today," he said.
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