General News of Thursday, 19 October 2000

Source: FREE PRESS

Ghanaian Lawyer to defend Foday Sankoh

A Ghanaian Lawyer, Captain (rtd) Nkrabeah Effah Dartey, has been engaged to defend Sierra Leone’s Rebel Revolutionary United Front Leader, Foday Sankoh, should he be put on trial in the foreseeable future.

In a statement issued in Accra during a recent visit to Ghana, Mrs Fatou Mbaye Sankoh also appealed to President Rawlings to help get “justice for my husband and also restore peace to Sierra Leone.” She also appealed to Nigerian President, General Obassanjo, and UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to continue in their efforts to bring peace to Sierra Leone.

Foday Sankoh, whose followers were accused of committing beastly atrocities including the indiscriminate hacking of limbs of even toddlers, who were in no way involved in the fighting has been in detention at a secret location in Freetown since his arrest early this year.

When Mrs Sankoh, a US-based Lawyer was asked during a radio interview in South Africa whether she was aware of the atrocities, which her husband was alleged to have masterminded, she replied that it was the usual “press sensationalism.”