Over 100 Houses Vandalized… As Benguema Soldiers Raid Civilian Territory

Soldiers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), Saturday 13^th March 2010, at about 1500hours, launched what has been referred to by many observers as an unwarranted attack on a civilian territory around the Waterloo general area, destroying well over 100 houses, beating up civilians and a military colleague, Claude Williams, who merely attempted to calm down the situation.

Accordingly, the soldiers, numbering close to 150 or more and armed with weapons and other harmful items like cutlasses, pickaxes, sticks and so on, raided the said community from all flanks, firing shots in the air to scare away residents, while systematically destroying their shelters and carting away valuables worth millions of leones.

One of the victims, Pa Ibrahim Sesay, a smallholder farmer, said in tears that his life and those of his 12 children and wife have been shattered, as the only asset they relied upon has been destroyed for no good reason. He claimed that the assailants broke into his bed drawer and made away with the sum of Two Million Leones, which he had in his possession for safe keeping.

Also affected was the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the community, Mohamed Paolo Bangura, whose concrete house was brought down by the soldiers. According to him, the soldiers claimed that they had the instruction to destroy the houses from key personalities like His Excellency the President and Commander-In-Chief of the RSLAF, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, the Minister of Defence, Retired Major Paolo Conteh and the Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Nelson Williams. According to him, “the soldiers claimed that they were given orders to destroy the houses because they were built within the firing range used by them for training purposes”.

PRO Mohamed Paolo Bangura named one Captain Gbania and one Lieutenant Kanu, both of the Benguema Training Centre, as having headed the team of soldiers that stormed the community which he noted is home to hundreds of peaceful and law abiding citizens. Among the soldiers that he alleged stormed the community were recruits on training.

Mohamed Jalloh, the Headman of the community, expressed utter disappointment at the move taken by the soldiers, noting that “We gave them the land on which the Benguema Training Centre is currently located, and therefore it is unfair for them to claim blanket ownership of the entire area”.

He dismissed the action as reckless, saying “It does not go down well with us”, adding that “We are going to take up the issue with the authorities concerned, for appropriate action”.

Headman Mohamed Jalloh went on to state that “This community shares a common boundary with the military firing range, and everybody, including the Military Surveyor, know that. How then can they claim that this area falls within the firing range?”

Furthering, Headman Jalloh pointed out that “If the guys were serious enough, they would have first started with the buildings that are actually within the firing range, before extending their operation outside the range”.

He therefore alleged that “the only reason why they came to our community and embarked on such an unforgivable destruction of private dwellings is because they want to grab our lands, using big names like those of President Ernest Bai Koroma, Defence Minister Paolo Conteh and CDS Nelson Williams, to justify their action and to scare us”.

The biggest owner of land in the area, Alford O.H. Wilson, said “I have three-in-one set of lands amounting to about 30 acres that I bought in bits in 1974, 1976 and 1980 respectively, and my documents were signed by the Director of Surveys and Land in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning and duly registered with the Office of the Registrar General”. He said “My land is not within the firing range, and I am damn angry that they had to tamper with it in such a crude manner”.

He said “top military personnel including Brigadier Nelson Williams are aware that I have such a vast land in that area and even at one time sent Military Police officers there to caution certain soldiers including one Sergeant Major Abu White, who were bent on tampering with my land for their own selfish purpose”.

All efforts to get the sides of Captain Gbania, Lieutenant Kanu and Sergeant Major Abu White, named in the scam, proved futile as they proved doggy.

Colonel John Milton, Head of the Media Wing of the RSLAF, could not confirm whether the action was a coordinated one, and could also not tell for certain on whose instructions the military officers were acting upon.

He however claimed that the area in question is government owned and that certain people have taken it upon themselves to erect buildings very close to sensitive military areas including the firing range near Benguema.

Meanwhile, it has come out clearly that certain military personnel deployed at the Benguema Training Centre, have for years now, been actively involved in illegally allocating lands to themselves for onward sale to would-be buyers, usually without any documentation. Neck deep in this illegality, according to the community people, is Sergeant Major Abu White, also dubbed as a notorious land gabber in military camouflage.

It could be recalled that a police officer at the Hastings Airfield area, sold out vast acreages of land believed to be the property of the Government of Sierra Leone. The structures that were subsequently built in the area illegally sold were recently destroyed on orders of the Minister of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, Dr. Denis Sandy.

By Theophilus S. Gbenda

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