Interview with RUF commander Colonel Bai Bureh
Peter C. Andersen
3 June 2001 - Kukuna, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone Web
Abubakar Jalloh recalls that he joined RUF rebel leader Foday Sankoh and his small
rebel force shortly after they crossed the 
Liberian border into Kailahun
District in March 1991. "They met us at the border, then we all
crossed," he said. Under the nom de guerre "Colonel Bai
Bureh," Jalloh warred against the government for ten years as
commander of the RUF's 3rd Brigade in Kambia District.
Last month, 'Bai Bureh' became the first rebel commander to lead his men to disarm. "The war is over now as far as the agreement is concerned between the government and the RUF," he told the Sierra Leone Web in the northern town of Kukuna. "The war is over. We have now changed our mandate from bullets to ballots."
Jalloh, whose father came from Kambia and his mother from Kenema District before they settled in Kailahun, said he was now prepared to take on a more active role in order to support the peace process. "I will move any part of this country, whether Pujehun, Bonthe, Kailahun, Kono, any part, as far as UNAMSIL is present on it, we will cooperate," he said.
The former rebel commander said his next task would be to support the RUF's political party, the RUFP, in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. He denied, however, that he would himself be a candidate. "I will only be a supporter for the party," he insisted.
But "Bai Bureh" was vague about his long-term plans. "If I can get a little money, I won't do business," he said in Krio. "I'll just take care of my life and health until the time reaches for the (political) process that I'm talking about."