FAO. President SL
cc Amnesty International
Economist
Guardian
SL Telegraph

Dear Sir,
I have been informed from Sierra Leone that Mr Tommy (Tito) Gbandewa, who you are familiar with as one of the landowners affected by the current dispute concerning the land in Black Johnson ,has been threatened along with several others. with arrest by your police officers.

Your government and its officers must obviously be free to carry out whatever lawful duties are their responsibility but the threats to arrest a man whose only action is to protect his family and the land they own cannot even  be remotely lawful.

I have asked Tito how he feels this turn of events affects him, his children and his neighbours. Tito tells me he fears for his and their lives.

This is an intolerable state of affairs that only you can put a stop to.

It is now incumbent upon you as the president of your people to issue an immediate statement that there is no justification for the arrest of any person peacefully involved in any dispute over land ownership.

If you cannot issue such an unambiguous statement to your police officers in particular and the wider public in general I will see this as your complicity in this unlawful action.In such circumstances I will ask Worldwide legal observers and global witnesses to focus their attention on this matter.