Rebel leader Foday Sankoh charged with murder

Former rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), including its leader, Foday Sankoh, appeared in court in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, on Monday on various criminal charges including murder, news organisations reported.

It is the first time Sankoh has been seen in public since he was arrested just under two years ago.

"This is Foday Sankoh. I am always Sankoh and I will continue to be Sankoh," Reuters reported the rebel leader as saying in court, adding that he appeared thin and weak as he heard the charges against him.

The charges relate to an incident on 8 May 2000 when a peaceful demonstration outside Sankoh's house turned bloody after his supporters reportedly fired shots into the crowd killing "21 innocent civilians", Sierra Leone's attorney general and minister of justice, Solomon Berewa, said on the BBC on Monday. Sankoh was detained by the authorities shortly afterwards and has been held at an undisclosed location ever since.

When asked if Sankoh's court appearance would jeporadise the peace process, Berewa replied, "I really don't think so." President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah formally declared that the war was over in January.

The RUF is accused of committing many atrocities, including forced limb amputations, murder and rape, during the decade-long war. The UN and the Government of Sierra Leone signed an agreement in mid-January allowing for the setting up of a Special Court to prosecute those who committed serious violations of international humanitarian and Sierra Leonean law during the conflict.

Meanwhile, Kabbah lifted the four-year old state of emergency in Sierra Leone on Friday in preparation for presidential and legislative elections scheduled to take place in May.

In a nationwide radio broadcast, he announced that in view of recent positive developments in the peace process, the conditions for maintaining a state of emergency no longer existed and, therefore, it would be "lifted with immediate effect". He warned that the government would not tolerate any threat from within the country or from any external element following its removal. "Law and order will be maintained and maintained vigorously. The armed forces, the police, and other state security institutions would continue to do their job and would remain vigilant", he said.

A state of public emergency was declared by the government following the restoration of Kabbah's government in March 1998. Military junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma, who had seized power some 10-months earlier, was ousted by troops of the Nigerian-led West African Peace Monitoring Group, ECOMOG.