SIERRA LEONE: Opposition is mounting in Sierra Leone to an Anglo-American plan to shift the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor from Freetown to The Hague.
The arrival of Taylor in Sierra Leone's Special Court marks the first time a former African president has faced a war crimes trial.
Taylor is accused of masterminding thousands of murders, rapes and mutilations from his base in Liberia during Sierra Leone's 12 years of civil war.
But the cheers when he was arrested last month have given way to alarm after the retiring court president, Justice Raja Fernando, called for the trial to be moved, citing security concerns.
Sources in Sierra Leone say Britain and the US back the plan, worried that Taylor remains a destabilising force across West Africa, and they plan to ask the UN Security Council to consider a move to the International Criminal Court in The Hague in late June.
However, a popular backlash is now gathering momentum.
Parliamentarians have called for the trial to be held at the Special Court, jointly controlled by the government and the UN, with MPs arguing that it is important to show that Africa can run its own war crimes courts.
"The majority of people think that if is he tried here it will give the psychological satisfaction of seeing this man, who caused so much harm to us, now being brought to trial," said Dr Alusine Fufanah, chairman of the parliament's Human Rights Committee.
MPs say the expected €10 million cost of moving the trial to The Hague, including big stipends for court staff, would be better spent on Sierra Leone's poor, most of whom survive on less than €1 a day.
Human rights groups have echoed the MPs' concerns.
"We want him to be tried here," said James Matthews of the National Movement for Democracy and Human Rights. "If the trial is held far away the people are not involved, they do not hear, they do not see."
Many war victims feel the same way, including Ishmael Daramy (48), a farmer from northern Sierra Leone who was the victim of a particularly brutal practice by the Taylor-backed Revolutionary United Front.
In response to President Ahmad Kabbah's call to "join hands" in peace, the rebels began hacking off the hands of suspected government supporters.
Walking home to his village one day in June 1998, Mr Daramy ran into an RUF patrol.
He shows me what happened next: forced to kneel, a log was produced and put behind him. One soldier held him down while another pulled his arm back, resting his hand on the log, then severing it.
His second hand was then hacked off in the same way. "The soldiers told me 'go to Kabbah, go to the UN to get your hands back'," he said.
Mr Daramy managed to stagger for eight hours along the road, holding his arms above his head to stem the flow of blood, until he reached his village.
He too says the trial should be held in front of Sierra Leonians. "It will be a good example for anyone who wants to do the war."
In a country where 80 per cent of the population is illiterate and radio provides the only form of news for most people, moving the trial to The Hague, where few journalists will go to cover it, will mean the population is likely to remain divorced from proceedings.
The movement debate has also left the court in disarray. While the president is in favour, the court's principal defence lawyer, Vincent Nmehielle, is objecting. "The institutions are all here," he told The Irish Times. "The witnesses are all here. We want the people to heal and to confront their aggressors."
Meanwhile the Netherlands has said it does not want to host the trial unless another country agrees to house Taylor if he is convicted.
Sources in Freetown said the court president's decision is based on a secret security report showing Taylor still controls powerful forces that could spring him from custody. Yet it is hard to see how such a jailbreak could be successful as the special court sits in a virtual fortress. Meanwhile, Taylor's arrival in Freetown has triggered bitterness among his victims. "Taylor is in jail, yes, but he has good food, he has comfort, he has medical aid," said Mr Daramy. "Meanwhile I have to beg."