VZCZCXRO7091
OO RUEHMA RUEHPA RUEHTRO
DE RUCNDT #0373/01 1151546
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 241546Z APR 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4163
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1038
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 9021

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000373 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNSC KJUS KDEM PGOV SL XA
SUBJECT: UN/SIERRA LEONE SPECIAL COURT: LEGACY PROJECT 
CONSULTANT AMBASSADOR MELROSE (RET.) BRIEFS MANAGEMENT 
COMMITTEE 
 
 ¶1.  SUMMARY: Former U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone Joe 
Melrose (Ret.), currently serving as a consultant to the 
Sierra Leone Special Court on legacy issues, briefed members 
of the Special Court Management Committee on April 22 
regarding possible uses of the Court facilities in Freetown 
once the trials have been completed.  Basing his initial 
analysis on a March 8-14 trip to Freetown and his meetings 
with various Sierra Leonean Government officials, Melrose 
suggested that the Court building and several adjacent 
structures could be used simultaneously for different 
purposes, including the rental of certain office space to 
various UN agencies or NGOs to generate revenue to offset at 
least part of the approximately 750,000 USD in annual costs 
needed to maintain the Court complex.  Sierra Leone 
Ambassador Kanu indicated that the GOSL has not, as yet, 
expressed its preference for the Court's eventual use, 
pending its careful analysis of the options that Melrose has 
identified.  Options Melrose presented may include use of the 
Court by ECOWAS, the AU or the ICC; conversion of adjacent 
buildings to house the Special Court's archives accessible to 
researchers and scholars; establishment of a transitional 
justice or rule of law center; and/or creation of a legal 
training center or law school.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
MULTIPLE USES, 
IDEALLY SELF- 
SUSTAINING 
-------------- 
 
¶2.  Given the historic hybrid nature of the Special Court and 
the widespread perception of the Court's symbolic legacy of 
addressing the terrible atrocities committed in Sierra Leone, 
Melrose suggested that the future disposition of the Court 
site had special significance not just for Sierra Leoneans 
but for many in the region.  Melrose said the ideal future 
use of the site would incorporate international, regional and 
domestic purposes, while at the same time preserving the 
historical value of the Court's numerous achievements.  This 
could be done by considering various uses of the Court 
building itself and the adjacent structures.  However, a key 
obstacle will be the high annual overhead costs to maintain 
the property - approximately 750,000 USD to pay for fuel, 
replacement parts and maintenance of the generators needed to 
supply a constant flow of electricity in a city where a 
reliable source of electrical power is a luxury. 
 
¶3.  For this reason, Melrose said he thought it would be 
important to use at least part of the Court site to generate 
revenue by renting the offices now occupied by the Prosecutor 
(OTP) to UN agencies operating in Sierra Leone, or to NGOs. 
The income derived from such rentals could then be used to 
offset at least partially the high annual maintenance costs 
for the property.  At the same time, the detention facility, 
if not employed to house prisoners convicted by the Special 
Court, could be used as a prison for Sierra Leoneans aged 18 
to 24 who have been convicted of crimes and who otherwise 
presently lack a facility of their own.  There would be no 
reason, Melrose argued, to delay efforts to rent the OTP 
offices once the trial phase of the RUF case was completed 
later in 2008. 
 
¶4.   Melrose indicated that the Registrar's Office likely 
would have to be maintained for a certain period of time to 
address residual Court matters and to oversee the safe 
storage and cataloguing of Court archives.  Ideally, the 
Court's records would be made accessible to researchers and 
scholars, and could be combined with documents from Sierra 
Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  The office now 
housing the Court's Outreach section might serve as an 
appropriate area to safeguard the records, recognizing that 
climate and temperature controls would have to be installed 
to ensure proper preservation of the documents. 
 
¶5.  As to the Court building itself, Melrose reminded 
Committee members that it contained state-of-the-art 
capabilities with computers, closed-circuit television and 
full interpretation facilities - and that the only Court is 
the only one of its kind in West Africa.  One possibility was 
to use the Court to deal not only with Sierra Leone criminal 
matters, but also to resolve land disputes and/or as a 
commercial arbitration court.  The International Criminal 
Court (ICC) also might be interested in establishing a 
facility in Africa through use of the Special Court 
structure.  Although the ECOWAS Court of Justice has a 
permanent base in Abuja, Nigeria, Melrose said it often met 
in other neighboring states.  The Special Court could serve 
as its alternate location. 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000373  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6.  Melrose said another key future use of the Court complex 
could be as a legal training center, perhaps partially 
sustained through partnerships with law schools in the U.S. 
or Europe.  Sierra Leone Ambassador Kanu, noting that the 
GOSL has yet not taken a firm position on the future 
disposition of the Court site, proposed that the Court could 
serve as an African university to train African criminal 
lawyers.  Nigerian representative Angela Nworgu said it would 
be important to incorporate a Sierra Leonean component and 
identity to whatever future use is made of the Court site. 
UK representative Simon Thomas warned that future financial 
support for whatever option was chosen might prove difficult, 
since many governments, including HMG, would likely be 
anxious to shift funding to economic development projects in 
Sierra Leone once the Special Court's work had been 
completed.  It would be helpful if Melrose could identify in 
his future reports possible sources of funding for whatever 
use is made of the Court site. 
 
PROPOSALS AND 
RECOMMENDATIONS 
PLANNED FOR THE 
FALL 
--------------- 
 
¶7.  Melrose indicated that he planned to return to Sierra 
Leone in the coming weeks for further review of options 
governing disposition of the Special Court premises.  He 
promised to keep the Committee informed, most likely in late 
August-early September, and to link his ongoing efforts to 
those being pursued in connection with Special Court residual 
issues. 
 
Khalilzad