Liberia: May 15, 2003

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While it was reported earlier that rebel leader Sam Bockarie was killed in a shoot out with government forces while attempting to enter Liberia. Bockarie had actually met Taylor in Monrovia the day before he was killed and threatened to "spill the beans" if he were handed over to the Special Court. Taylor could be prosecuted for allegedly harboring Bockerie and another indicted rebel leader. Taylor ordered his arrest, but Bockarie and his guards resisted and were killed. 

The chief of investigations at the Special Court for Sierra Leone Alan White also claimed to have credible information that Bockarie's family may have been eliminated to avoid possible DNA profiling. Liberian authorities have refused to transfer Mr. Bockarie's body to the Court for an independent forensic examination in order to provide positive identification. 

The rebel warlord's death is basically poetic justice, since Bockarie chopped off limbs, lips and ears of his victims during the fighting in Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war (which ended in 2002) and the western Ivory Coast. His Revolutionary United Front (RUF) also systematically raped women and abduction of thousands of children, who were then forced to fight. - Adam Geibel 



 

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