Written By: Kakuna Kerina, Matthew Leone & David Tam-Baryoh

The "Second Coming:" The Return of the Kabbah Government

After the February 1998 intervention by ECOMOG and the March 10, 1998 restoration of President Kabbah, the government immediately returned to its old patterns of censorship. Misinformation from government officials also costs the lives of many refugees, who had fled to neighboring countries, when they were informed that it was safe to return to their homes. And later the same year, the government again misinformed citizens when they described RUF raids on villages as "desperate" measures and ECOMOG actions as "mopping-up" operations.

On December 8, 1998, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent Winston Ojukutu Macaulay reported that 8,000 refugees, fleeing heavy fighting, were headed toward Freetown on the highway from the northern part of the interior, and BBC correspondent Sylvester Rogers reported that an ECOMOG soldier had been killed by rebels near Makeni. Within days, CID officers arrested the journalists on the order of Minister of Information Julius Spencer. Macaulay, Rogers, and BBC correspondent and Concord Times reporter Sulaiman Momodu, who had also separately been arrested by CID officers, were all charged with "false reporting" and "reporting news on the war without clearing their stories in advance with ECOMOG." This action effectively banned war reporting, as military officials were often rarely to clear stories.

An official statement, aired on state radio on December 9, described the journalists' reporting as "unpatriotic behavior and a criminal act which is tantamount to acting as a propagandist for the rebels." It was clear to local journalists that stories that did not solely portray government fortitude would bring repercussions. More alarming, fellow citizens were beginning to believe and support the government's hostile position towards the private press.

Just two weeks later, a crowd attacked Pathfinder freelance reporter Dominick Kabba Karbo, calling him an "alarmist" after he was interviewed on the BBC's Focus on Africa program. During the interview, Karbo stated that he had witnessed the December 20 attack by RUF rebels on Waterloo (32 kilometers east of Freetown), and that the RUF appeared to be militarily superior to ECOMOG. CID agents took the journalist into "protective custody." Within weeks, the RUF was increasingly threatening Freetown as the government simultaneously continued to maintain that "everything was under control." Freetown residents' only warning of the impending invasion was the approaching sound of gun and artillery fire.

While reporting of ECOMOG positions and troops strength could possibly have put soldiers at risk, local journalists' reports on ECOMOG performance caused more of a political than a security liability. And the government's desire to win the battle of perception by censoring unfavorable war reports may have hurt it militarily. Journalists, discouraged from reporting ECOMOG's weaknesses, were restricted from informing the international community of the prevailing inadequate financial and logistical support for the nation's sole defense against the RUF.

Prior to its assault on Freetown, the RUF warned journalists about what would become of those who were caught. On December 31, RUF commander Colonel Sam "Moskita" Bockarie announced during a BBC interview, that Sylvester Rogers was biased against the rebels and that "such people would be dealt with" if the rebels took control of Makeni. Rogers' arrest by the government for similar reasons apparently did not help him in the eyes of the RUF. Rogers would later be captured by the RUF, but he managed to escape and survived.