War pays for young Sierra Leonean

A veteran of three wars and five armed groups, a 24-year-old Sierra Leonean "general" told Human Rights Watch how he profited from fighting with Liberian rebels:

Looting is seen as the prize of fighting

Anywhere you have rebel war you're entitled to get money. I got so many things during my time as a warrior.

After Lurd (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) took the capital Monrovia, we headed straight to the port and anything we wanted, we took. The most important thing was food, which we even shared with civilians.

We also got a huge amount of money from the Lebanese to protect their shops.

We also looted the houses of the ones who'd moved away. Since there's war, you have to expect everything will be lost.

Sharing the booty

In August 2003, I brought back a vehicle I got straight out of the container from the port of Monrovia.

You have to share it with your junior commanders - especially if you want to live a long life

I sold it - a brand new Mitsubishi - for $8,000 to a Liberian businessman who'd come to the Sierra Leone/Liberia border where we had set up a big market.

I brought back so many things from Monrovia - generators, building materials, clothes.

However as a commander you have to share it with your junior commanders - especially if you want to live a long life.

We loaded up with rice, Coke, building materials, cloth bales, diesel and brought it to the border and set up a big market.

People were coming from all over Sierra Leone and Liberia to buy stuff from us. I made over $3,000 and shared a lot of it among my 50 men.

Diamond money

My boys were looting a lot at the port as well. A commander can't know all their secrets. After all, they're the ones who made me a commander. You have to let them do it or they could finish you off.

Anytime anyone calls me on mission I will go there

People were crossing things over (the border) even though the Sierra Leone Army and police were there. It looked closed during day but after midnight, it was wide open.

With the money I made off the Mitsubishi, I'm now supporting three teams of diamond miners in Tongo Fields. They're my boys and I take care of them.

I didn't even disarm - I'm making more money now mining diamonds than I would if I went back to disarm in Liberia.

This is why I like going on missions. Anytime anyone calls me on a mission I will go there.