By Mark Devenport at the United Nations

The United States has tabled a draft resolution at the UN Security Council
in New York to create a special court for Sierra Leone to try those
responsible for systematic violations of humanitarian law.

The court will be based on a mixture of Sierra Leone and international law
and will try the rebel leader Foday Sankoh and others accused of committing
atrocities.



It is very important that the people - Foday Sankoh and his henchmen - who
have committed these war crimes be brought to justice

Richard Holbrooke
There is no doubt that the atrocities carried out in Sierra Leone, including
killings, rapes and the mutilation of children, have been some of the vilest
crimes of war perpetrated anywhere in the world.

There was an outcry by human rights campaigners when a peace agreement
signed last year included a blanket amnesty for all those responsible.

But since May, when the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
started killing and abducting UN peacekeepers, the international community
and the Sierra Leone Government have looked at the question of justice once
again.

The proposed independent special court will operate under both Sierra Leone
domestic law and international humanitarian law.

The US ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke, says it will try the rebel
leader Foday Sankoh and others accused of serious crimes.

The hearings will be heard either in Freetown or in one of Sierra Leone's
neighbouring countries.

"It is very important that the people - Foday Sankoh and his henchmen - who
have committed these war crimes be brought to justice," Mr Holbrooke said.



The Sierra Leone Government wants a domestic trial for Sankoh

"The mixed Sierra Leone-international character of this court will
strengthen the ability of the government of Sierra Leone by enhancing it
with an international backing" he added.

Ambassador Holbrooke says the court will not recognise the amnesty included
in last year's peace agreement, although the draft resolution states that it
will focus in particular on those responsible for crimes committed during
the past few months.

The special court is not expected to be as large or as unwieldy as the UN's
war crimes tribunals which deal with the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

However, those convicted by the court will be able to take their cases to an
appeals chamber in The Hague which already deals with proceedings referred
to it by the other UN tribunals.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/default.stm

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