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In
August, 2000 the UN Security Council requested that the
Secretary-General negotiate an agreement with the Sierra
Leone Government to establish a "special court"
to prosecute war crimes committed during the ongoing war.
In October, the Secretary-General presented a model for
the court, which is neither a UN body along the lines
of the International Criminal Tribunals established for
the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR) nor a
domestic tribunal. Rather, it is a hybrid court that will
be jointly administered by the United Nations and the
Sierra Leone government. Because it will combine local
and international justice, many diplomats are hopeful
that the Special Court for Sierra Leone will provide a
"new template" for the prosecution of war crimes.
Although this model addresses many of the shortfalls experienced
by the standing UN tribunals, the court for Sierra Leone
is likely to confront several unique problems not faced
by the others. Currently it is still awaiting final approval
from the Security Council.
The
impetus to prosecute war crimes in Sierra Leone came about
in June 2000 when Foday Sankoh’s Revolutionary United
Front took 500 UN peacekeepers hostage. It was clear that
the RUF had no intention of allowing the United Nations
to take control of the country’s diamond-rich areas,
which was a critical component of the Lome Peace Accords
signed in July 1999. In response, the British government,
which had long advocated a tougher line towards the RUF,
drafted a comprehensive resolution calling for the expansion
of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone, an embargo
on Sierra Leonean diamonds, and the prosecution of war
criminals such as Foday Sankoh, the now-captured leader
of the rebel group.
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