Jolie visits S Leone war victims

2005-05-10 08:40

Hollywood star and Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Angelina Jolie during a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, earlier and is now visiting the war-ravaged Sierra Leone. (Anjum Naveed, AP)

Freetown, Sierra Leone - Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie began a goodwill trip on Monday to Sierra Leone to meet survivors of this battered West African nation's devastating war and urge authorities to make public the recommendations of a special commission set up to reconcile the nation.

Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 2001, flew to Freetown late on Monday, agency spokeswoman Rachel Goldstein-Rodriguez said.

Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up after a brutal 10-year war ended in 2002, has collected thousands of written statements documenting atrocities and has held public hearings in a bid to offer victims catharsis through recounting their tales.

The commission's final report was presented to President Ahmed Tejah Kabbah in October 2004, but it and its recommendations have yet to be made public.

Presidential meeting

Jolie is expected to meet Kabbah on Wednesday, as well as other government officials, aid workers and victims of the bloodshed during her three-day visit, the New York-based non-profit organization, Witness said in a statement.

"Sierra Leone is still scarred by the war, but the people have invested a great deal of courage and hope in the truth and reconciliation process," said Jolie before her visit. "It is vital that the government acts on the (Truth and Reconciliation Commission's) recommendations to ensure that history will not repeat itself."

Sierra Leone's rebels gained international infamy for hacking off the limbs of their civilian victims and carving their initials into victims' chests.

The truth commission, modelled on that of South Africa, did not offer amnesty from prosecution. However, a separate UN-backed war crimes tribunal was set up to prosecute war criminals.

Jolie won a supporting-actress Oscar for 1999's "Girl, Interrupted". She has visited refugee camps throughout the world, most recently visiting Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Witness said Jolie will also attend a screening of Witness to Witness to Truth, a documentary the organisation produced at the commission's behest summarising the commission's key findings and causes of the war.

This is Jolie's second visit as she first toured Sierra Leone in 2001.

- AP