Freetown Part 4: Memories

Thousands of children fought in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war

By Sorious Samura

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (CNN) -- Now it's time to take Tamba back home.

He remembers he was abducted from a village near Koidu in the east of Sierra Leone, so we journey from Freetown deep into the rebel-controlled east, to where the rebels came from -- to Kono, where the diamond mines are, and where the rebels quickly took over when the war began 10 years ago.

On the way we pass through villages and towns that have seen massive destruction and killings. No one was there to count the casualties -- killings often done by children.

The Small Boys Units of the RUF were groups of kids who lived and fought together. Their enemies were the Sierra Leone army and the peacekeepers, and in the countryside the local civil defence forces known as the Kamajos.

Because all sides used children, often battles involved armed kids trying to kill each other.

We stop at a village where Tamba was once stationed. His Small Boys Unit was responsible for defending the village from attack. Mostly it was quiet -- until one day local defence forces launched an assault on their position.

What Tamba told me about what happened in the village is the most terrible story I have ever heard from a child.

This is terrorism that has not just happened and is now over, it's with Tamba and all the children who experienced this for the rest of their lives.

How do you close the doors that should never have been opened in these children's minds?

"You were here, what happened?" I ask Tamba.

"We came, we surrounded them and cut some of them, killed them, put tyres over them and burned them," he says. "I was really annoyed by then, so I took it out on them. I killed some, put tyres on them, beat them, including the civilians who were with them. We took some of their properties and after that we went to Magburaka."

'Dancing and advancing'

Tamba told me how his group had found civilians who had been captured by the enemy. They forced the civilians to show them where the civil defence people were hiding.

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

"So you burned the people here, now listen Tamba. How did you feel? What were you doing? What was your role in it?"

"At that time I was dancing. We were dancing and advancing."

"Were you shooting? Were you killing?"

"Yes. We were shooting, advancing. We were shouting, we were happy, and we were clapping. We were shooting and some of them were running but we caught them."

"How do you feel at that time when you kill somebody? Were you enjoying it?"

"Yes. I was feeling fine. They were clapping. I enjoyed it."

"Were they clapping for you?"

"Yes."

"Who clapped for you?"

"The civilians we wounded."

"Did you kill some of the civilians as well?"

"Yes. Those who came with them, they showed us the place so we killed all of them."

"Tamba, what I'd like to understand: You were not killing at first …"

"No."

"How did you manage to get the mind to kill?"

"When they caught (my family) and took us to Koidu, I saw plenty of dead bodies and I was afraid. In fact they almost killed my mother -- saying, 'Why are you afraid?' They then took me away from my mother. My mother was alone.

"So they took me then with my elder brother and trained us. They gave us gunpowder and we ate it. They put some other medicine in it, and that gave us the mind to be able to kill. After that they caught somebody and gave me that person to kill and I killed them. The blood, I also took it. They said I should rub it on my eyes and I did it. That gave me the mind to kill."

"How did you beat them?"

"We tied their hands, tied their feet then dropped them on the ground. Then everyone came and beat them. We beat them with a rubber whip and gun butts. We hit them with our fists."

"Didn't you feel bad, or feel sorry for them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because at the time the gunpowder was working on me."

"What is the idea, is it because the more you kill the more they respect you?"

"Yes, when you kill ... that brings you respect. And you have your friends who follow you."

"You have your own boys?"

"Yes."

"You become a man?"

"Yes."

"You get treated as a big man?"

"Yes."

"So, today you're looking all around this area. You're looking here. You know you burned some bodies here and you've come back here today. Tell me, what does it look like, Tamba?"

"Let God forgive me," he says.

"It is not your fault, yeah? God will forgive you. Me myself understand. It's not your fault," I tell him.

Diamond greed

Onwards to Kono, where 10 years ago Tamba was abducted.

We're in the town of Koidu to find out where Tamba's village is. It's been a long time since Tamba was home, and we don't know if his father is still there.

There used be a town here, but they have dug up the buildings to get at the diamonds underneath. At least Tamba seems happy to be back home.

In the end, this is what the war was all about. At first the RUF sold the diamonds they found here to fund their war, and some of those diamonds ended up in the top jewellery stores of America and Europe. Now individual commanders coerce the miners to dig for their own personal wealth.

Whatever dreams of real change the RUF had, they ended in greed in the diamond fields of Kono.

Strange reunion

In the market at Koidu, I ask for directions to the village from where Tamba was taken.

It has been a long journey, but Tamba seems more excited at meeting his old friends on the roadside than finding his dad.

For him, the reunification with his father and his younger brother is clearly strange and uncomfortable. I have noticed how he talks about his old friends in the RUF. I don't think his heart is here with his family.

As I prepare to leave Tamba with his family, I'm not sure he will stay. This area is still in RUF control and after the years he has spent fighting with the rebels, I wonder if he will be tempted to rejoin them.

"As the rebels entered, they shot down people for no good reason," Tamba's father tells us. "So I took to the hills. They cut out the throat of some people, they shot some people down. They burn down houses, so a lot of atrocities."

"How long will it take for you to settle in the family?" I ask Tamba.

"I think a long time," he says.

"A long time?"

Tamba nods.