Case No. SCSL-2003-01-T THE PROSECUTOR OF THE SPECIAL COURT V. CHARLES GHANKAY TAYLOR TUESDAY, 20 MAY 2008 9.30 A.M. TRIAL TRIAL CHAMBER II Before the Judges: Justice Teresa Doherty, Presiding Justice Richard Lussick Justice Julia Sebutinde Justice Al Hadji Malick Sow, Alternate For Chambers: Mr William Romans Ms Carolyn Buff For the Registry: Ms Rachel Irura For the Prosecution: Mr Stephen Rapp Ms Brenda J Hollis Ms Maja Dimitrova For the accused Charles Ghankay Mr Courtenay Griffiths QC Taylor: Mr Terry Munyard Mr Morris Anyah Ms Logan Hambrick CHARLES TAYLOR Page 10236 20 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 Tuesday, 20 May 2008 2 [Open session] 3 [The accused present] 4 [Upon commencing at 9.30 a.m.] 09:31:54 5 PRESIDING JUDGE: Good morning. I note appearances are as 6 before. 7 MR GRIFFITHS: Good morning, your Honour, counsel opposite. 8 Appearances are as yesterday. 9 PRESIDING JUDGE: Mr Rapp? 09:32:10 10 MR RAPP: That is correct, your Honour. 11 PRESIDING JUDGE: If there are no other matters I will 12 remind the witness of his oath. 13 Mr Witness, I again remind you this morning, as I've done 14 on other mornings, that you have taken the oath to tell the 09:32:21 15 truth, the oath continues to be binding on you and you must 16 answer questions truthfully. 17 THE WITNESS: Your Honour. 18 PRESIDING JUDGE: Very well. Please proceed, Mr Griffiths. 19 WITNESS: MOSES ZEH BLAH [On former oath] 09:32:36 20 CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR GRIFFITHS: [Continued] 21 Q. Good morning, former President. 22 A. Good morning. 23 Q. Yesterday, when we concluded the proceedings, I was asking 24 you about your knowledge of certain alleged contacts between the 09:32:47 25 Liberian government and the RUF. Do you recall that? 26 A. Yes, sir. 27 Q. I just want to ask you a few more details about that 28 situation, please. Is it right that prior to the RUF invasion of 29 Sierra Leone in May 1991, that NPFL fighters along the Sierra SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 10237 20 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 Leonean border were trading peacefully with both the Sierra 2 Leonean security force and civilians along those border towns? 3 Do you recall that? 4 A. I wouldn't know, because my assignment was in the south 09:33:31 5 eastern region of Liberia during the years 1991/1992. 6 Q. So you had no knowledge, did you, of the situation that 7 existed along the border between Sierra Leone and Liberia in 8 1991/1992? 9 A. I wouldn't know. 09:33:56 10 Q. Were you aware, for example, of social contact between NPFL 11 soldiers and Sierra Leonean security forces involving, for 12 example, the organisation of football matches? 13 A. I wouldn't know at the particular time 1991 and 1992. As 14 you know, where I was on my assignment in Liberia is far away 09:34:30 15 from the Sierra Leone border, that is the end of Liberia along 16 the Liberian-Cote d'Ivoire border and that is too far away from 17 where you are talking about. 18 Q. But were you not involved in any discussions with senior 19 NPFL officers regarding the situation? 09:34:51 20 A. Not to my knowledge. 21 Q. During the course of those radio communications which you 22 were privy to, when mention was made of Kuwait, did you not hear 23 other discussions taking place? 24 A. I told you that I heard about Kuwait when I was in Gbarnga 09:35:14 25 and my radio operator said that people were coming from Kuwait 26 and I wanted to know what Kuwait was and we put it in a joke form 27 and he said, "Oh, you are a big man, you should know about Kuwait 28 and when we said Kuwait we are talking about Sierra Leone." By 29 then I did not know about trade that went on between the two SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 10238 20 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 countries, that I don't know. Before the war I'm aware of trade 2 between Sierra Leone and Liberia where people used to go and buy 3 monkey meat, fresh meat and some other things, but that was 4 before the war. But during this particular time you are making 09:35:52 5 mention of, no. 6 Q. Very well. Can I ask you about one other detail then which 7 you might have been aware of. Do you recall President JS Momoh 8 of Sierra Leone ordering his forces to push the NPFL 28 miles 9 into Liberia? 09:36:16 10 A. I remember. I can recall that. 11 Q. And that was said by President Momoh some time in 1991 12 before RUF forces entered Sierra Leone. That's right, isn't it? 13 A. You are correct. 14 Q. Now I want to move on to another topic, please, and that is 09:36:47 15 the election which took place in 1997. Now, you campaigned, as 16 you told us yesterday, during that election, did you not? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. And it took some while to organise the elections, didn't 19 it? 09:37:09 20 A. Yes. It was a difficult thing to do. 21 Q. And all the major factions involved in the prior conflict 22 made preparations for the forthcoming elections by declaring that 23 they would dissolve their armed wings and reconstitute themselves 24 as political parties. 09:37:35 25 A. You are correct. 26 Q. And former President Taylor, Alhaji Kromah from ULIMO-K and 27 George Boley all announced their intention to stand for election 28 in May 1997. That's right, isn't it? 29 A. You are correct. SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 10239 20 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 Q. However, the elections were postponed until 19 July 1997 2 because the necessary legislation and logistics were not in place 3 in order to enable the original May deadline. That's right, 4 isn't it? 09:38:21 5 A. You are correct. 6 Q. In any event, when the elections did in fact occur they 7 passed by peacefully, didn't they? 8 A. You are correct. 9 Q. And those elections were monitored by independent foreign 09:38:36 10 observers, including the Carter Centre and representatives of the 11 European Union. That's right, isn't it? 12 A. You are correct. 13 Q. All those foreign observers declared the elections to be 14 free and fair with no significant irregularities. That's right, 09:39:00 15 isn't it? 16 A. You are correct. 17 Q. And Charles Taylor was elected President with the NPP 18 gaining 21 of the 26 seats in the senate and 49 of the 64 seats 19 in the House of Representatives. That's right, isn't it? 09:39:18 20 A. You are correct. 21 Q. So effectively a landslide victory was won by the NPP. Is 22 that right? 23 A. You are correct. 24 Q. They were fully democratically endorsed by the people of 09:39:36 25 Liberia? 26 A. You are correct. 27 Q. And thereafter constituted the legitimate government of 28 that sovereign country, do you agree? 29 A. You are correct. SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 10240 20 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 Q. Now the results of that election were accepted by all sides 2 who were involved in that election, weren't they? 3 A. You are correct. 4 Q. Now, just to pause there for a moment. Now at the time 09:40:16 5 when the NPP of which you were a member took over the government 6 in July 1997, the economy was in a parlous state, wasn't it? 7 A. You are correct. 8 Q. Effectively, as a country, Liberia was bankrupt? 9 A. You are correct. 09:40:41 10 Q. So that one of the immediate concerns was to generate 11 income for the country and get the economy back on its feet, 12 would you agree? 13 A. I agree with you. 14 Q. And a further important consideration was to rebuild the 09:41:08 15 Armed Forces of Liberia? 16 A. You are correct. 17 Q. Because the primary concern about the Armed Forces of 18 Liberia was that one of the legacies of the Doe regime was that 19 the Armed Forces of Liberia were dominated by Krahns, Doe's 09:41:32 20 tribe. That's right, isn't it? 21 A. You are correct. 22 Q. And it was important to diversify the armed forces to make 23 them more acceptable to the country as a whole. That's right, 24 isn't it? 09:41:45 25 A. You are correct. 26 Q. Now do you recall that in January 1998 the defence ministry 27 demobilised and retired more than 2,400 soldiers, including many 28 senior officers? 29 A. You are correct. SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 10241 20 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 Q. But one consequence of that was that in May 1998 several 2 retired and demobilised soldiers went on the rampage in protest 3 at not receiving retirement benefits. Do you remember that? 4 A.