Sierra Leone's former Revolutionary United Front rebel leader Foday Sankoh was charged with murder yesterday in a court in the country's capital, Freetown.  Sankoh, who has been held at a secret location since his arrest in May 2000 in connection with the killings of 19 people during demonstrations outside his home, did not enter a plea.

Sankoh was charged within days of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah lifting a four-year state of emergency, which had allowed the government to hold Sankoh indefinitely without bringing charges against him.  Sankoh is also expected to face charges before a separate U.N.-organized war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone once such a court has been established.

Sankoh appeared in court with 49 other rebels, all of whom were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder (Clarence Roy-Macaulay, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, March 4).  It was Sankoh's first public appearance since his arrest.  According to Agence France-Presse, Sankoh looked weak but was also defiant.  "I am Foday Sankoh, I will always be Foday Sankoh and I will continue to be Sankoh," he told journalists.

U.N. peacekeepers and local police were dispatched to the courthouse to maintain order during the proceedings.  Close to 4,000 people turned out to try to catch a glimpse of Sankoh.

Justice Minister Solomon Berewah said yesterday that the charges against RUF rebels are varied, but added that "the government has a right to use its own national jurisdiction to charge Corporal Foday Sankoh and others, and if found guilty of any of the charges, particularly murder, the penalty is death."

About 200,000 people were killed and thousands more were mutilated during a campaign of terror conducted by the RUF that lasted for 10 years (AFP, March 4).  Sierra Leone's war was officially declared over in January (UN Wire, Jan. 14).