Global Witness welcomes the Special Court for Sierra Leone's conviction yesterday of three senior commanders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
During eleven years of civil war, the RUF waged a devastating campaign of terror against Sierra Leone's population, which it financed via the trade in conflict diamonds. The RUF's tactics included mass murder, rape and the systematic amputation of victims' limbs. By the time the movement laid down its arms in 2002, tens of thousands of Sierra Leoneans had been killed.
