...Victor
Sylver studied Agriculture at university but ended up stringing for the
BBC after a jail sentence at the hellish Government Information
Services. He is the perfect intellectual slave the BBC likes to recruit
in Africa - somebody who can sacrifice THE TRUTH for a few miserable
British pounds.
Victor
has always been close to the powers that be and he used to be very proud
of his close association with ministers, directors, permanent
secretaries and presidents. He was particularly very close to Kabbah and
the SLPP. When the latter was overthrown in 1997, Victor took it as a
personal affront, which gravely affected his reporting to the BBC. He
never reported anything good about the junta, which angered a lot of
people and the BBC lapped up anything he faxed or sent by telephone.
But he
got into real trouble when he deliberately falsified a story on the
ECOMOG bombing of the Mabayla slum in central Freetown. At that time
everybody was glued to a radio and the slum dwellers heard Victor's
report while their loved ones laid in pools of blood. With a loud cry of
rage they went on the streets with stones and sticks looking for him. It
had nothing to do with EXPO TIMES. WE ONLY REPORTED THE INCIDENT AS
CORRESPONDENT OF REPORTERS SANS FRONTIERES IN FREETOWN AT THE TIME. I
EVEN INFORMED PARIS ABOUT IT AND WROTE A COMMENTARY IN EXPO TIMES
CALLING ON THE PUBLIC TO STAY CALM. THE RECORDS ARE THERE....
.... I remember publishing a letter
from one frustrated civilian whose relative was among those killed by
the Nigerian bombs. The reader merely vented his anger at Victor in the
letter. I published that letter in keeping with my paper's policy of
allowing members of the public to vent out their feelings in the
LETTERS column on matters
affecting their lives in the spirit of free speech and there was
absolutely no malice intended against the person of Victor Sylver, who
in any case had, and still has, the right of reply.....
...The truth of the matter is when
Seaga Shaw and his colleagues were busy exposing the atrocities
committed by both the junta rebels and the Nigerian led ECOMOG troops,
as well as pro-Kabbah militias, Victor Sylver was telling the world in
his despatches to the BBC Focus on Africa that all the atrocities
against innocent civilians in Sierra Leone during the period under
review were committed by the rebel junta soldiers. For Victor Silver,
the atrocities committed by ECOMOG troops against civilians in broad
daylight were not human right abuses because they sought to restore the
so-called democratically elected government.
Victor was among those few journalists
who helped the western media to misinform the world that all the
atrocities committed in Sierra Leone were the handiwork of rebels.
Thanks to the Sorious Samoura CRY FREETOWN award winning footage, which
at least helped to change that perception a little by telling the world
that, after all, both sides of the conflict committed violations. At
least it's on record that a journalist was shot to death in broad aye
light by an ECOMOG soldier acting under the advice of a local militia
was merely trying to settle old scores with the journalist.
I thought Victor could have been bold
enough to include in his letter what finally forced him into exile
during the AFRC junta rule. I'm sure he would not want the Freedom Forum
and others to know that he was hounded by angry civilians who felt
betrayed and frustrated over his report to the world that some 20
coffins, containing people (including their relatives) killed by
missiles thrown from ECOMOG's base in Lungi and displayed at the
National Stadium, had no corpses in them but stones.
Those civilians would find it difficult
to forgive Victor Sylver for been so heartless as to allow his
sentiments to come into naked play into his career as a journalist whose
duty it's to tell it as it is and not as he wants it even when it's a
big terrible lie.....
UPDATE - Friday September 3,
2010
The BBC reporter went into hiding on
Thursday September 4, 1997 and never reported from Freetown again.
The funerals for the victims were held
on Friday, September 5, 1997 - when the hunt was on and Victor Sylver
had gone into hiding to escape his tormentors in the AFRC who were bent
on murdering him and his family.
So where is the truth in this claim by
junta journalist Ibrahim Seaga Shaw when his benefactors were still
hunting for Victor Sylver?
I thought Victor could have been bold
enough to include in his letter what finally forced him into exile
during the AFRC junta rule. I'm sure he would not want the Freedom Forum
and others to know that he was hounded by angry civilians who felt
betrayed and frustrated over his report to the world that some 20
coffins, containing people (including their relatives) killed by
missiles thrown from ECOMOG's base in Lungi and displayed at the
National Stadium, had no corpses in them but stones.
Surprised?
You will not be after reading
this Expo Times editorial written in August 1997
