Freetown Part 2: Reunion

Sasko is reunited with his father; "I want to take him as my son, educate him so he can learn an occupation," the father says

By Sorious Samura

PORT LOKO, Sierra Leone (CNN) -- We have completed the first part of our mission to return three abducted children to their families.

Next we are taking them to a children's care centre called Caritas in government-held Port Loko.

The centre is a halfway house. The children are counselled and told what is expected of them back in normal society, while investigators try to find their families.

The girl we are returning, Mariama Conteh, doesn't want to talk. It is now becoming clear to me that, like many children who have been abducted, the RUF has a magnetic attraction for her.

The rebels have been the only family she knows; suddenly everything is unfamiliar.

The boys who come to this child protection camp all have to have their heads shaved. The care workers here see this as an initiation ceremony to mark the boys' return to normal society.

For Sasko Simba, one of the two boys we are returning, the head shaving is not an enjoyable experience. He left the RUF as a sergeant and he's used to more respect.

'I only shoot'

SPECIAL REPORT Follow Sorious Samura's Return to Freetown:  • Introduction  • Part 1: Release  • Part 2: Reunion  • Part 3: Beginnings  • Part 4: Memories  • Part 5: Doubts  • Part 6: Hopes    EXTRA INFORMATION Read Samura's account of his meeting with a rebel leader  in CNN Traveller  magazine   IN-DEPTH • Cry Freetown  • Exodus from Africa    RELATED SITE Sorious Samura's Africa

Sasko did much of his fighting in the bush. As he showed me where he fought, he told me more about those days in the RUF.

All child soldiers are forced to take a special oath of secrecy and loyalty. They are led to believe that a black magic curse will hurt them if they talk.

"So tell me, when you go to these villages to commandeer the people and tell them to join you, if they refuse what do you do to them?" I ask Sasko.

"Those who are lucky, we beat them and leave them," he says. "Those who are lucky, sometimes they cut their hands off. Sometimes they shoot them and kill them. The rest, if we demonstrated with three or four, the other ones will be afraid. So after that we just take them. They will join us and then we go. Any orders we give them they will obey, because they've seen the demonstration we have done to their companions."

"During these demonstrations am I to believe that, though it's not your fault, you also took part in some of these demonstrations?" I ask.

"No. I didn't take part, but if they gave me one to execute, I'll do it. But to say I'll use a machete, chop hand or foot, no. I only shoot." he says.

"Well at that time you were young, you were young, you didn't know about killing. The first time when you began killing, then you started executing after that, how were you feeling? We're you enjoying it? Like a small boy, were you making fun of it? Were you praising yourselves?"

"Well, the first time I was given one I was so afraid, so mad. When they gave me one at first, they then took something and they said I should tie my face and then they gave me the barrel and cocked it. Then they put it in front of me and said I should fire. After I fired it, then they took it off my face. When I saw it, I felt so bad. Right through that night I was unable to sleep. I was confused."

First reunion

How do you find the parents of stolen children in the mess of a wartorn country? This time we were very lucky.

It's been two years since Sasko had seen his father.

Sasko had told us that the last news he had heard about his dad was that he was at a Sierra Leone army base in or near Port Loko. So we asked around in the Caritas camp, and someone knew him.

It's been a strange war for Sgt. Simbo, Sasko's father. He was a rebel, but now he's returned to join the new Sierra Leone army, backed by the British. It's a new, more professional army that is supposed to provide jobs for ex-RUF fighters. I hope they remain loyal.

Sasko told me later that he thought I was about to hand him over to soldiers of the Sierra Leone army -- his sworn enemies only a few short months ago.

'The only son'

Sasko is a tough character. He's survived brutality, feared for his life many times and heard the father he loved described by his comrades as a traitor. He's going to require even more strength to move forward to a new life outside the RUF.

With families divided by war it's difficult for parents. They must try to raise their children who have been so damaged by their experiences.

"How do you feel towards the people that have abducted your son?" I ask Sasko's father.

"Well, it's a war, so I won't blame anyone. If it wasn't because of the war, nobody would dare take my kids. I will look after them carefully," he says.

"What do you want to happen with him now?"

"I want to take him as my son, educate him so he can learn an occupation, because he's the only son I am looking up to."