HRW urges US to help fund war crimes court

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the United States to contribute to the establishment of a UN war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. In an appeal on Friday to UN Secretary Of State Colin Powell, the Washington-based body said that given the systematic atrocities against civilians during Sierra Leone’s 10-year conflict, it was “particularly concerned” about the need to act swiftly in setting up the court. This, it said, would go “toward ending impunity and ensuring respect for the rule of law”. HRW asked Powell, who begins his four-nation Africa tour on 22 May in Mali, to urge the presidents of Guinea and Nigeria to investigate human rights abuses by their troops while they served with a West African force in Sierra Leone. Powell will also visit South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. The rights watchdog said Nigerian troops committed “serious abuses” in January 1999, when Revolutionary United Front rebels invaded Freetown, destroyed much of the eastern part of the city, and engaged in an orgy of limb amputations, child abductions and executions. Some Nigerian troops were accused of executing captured rebels and, HRW said, Guinean soldiers also committed abuses. Both countries have troops serving with the UN Mission in Sierra Leone. Nigeria’s have been equipped and retrained by the United States. This has prompted HRW to propose that they be “thoroughly vetted” in line with a US law prohibiting military aid to units believed to be responsible for serious human rights abuses. It also called on the US to provide effective training in international humanitarian and human rights law for all troops being trained by the US. Meanwhile, HRW urged the US to give much more money to the UNHCR and the Guinean government so that they can deal with the refugees crisis. [For more information, see the HRW website http://www.hrw.org]