| You can see why I might find this a delicate area to explore. The president had declined my general interview requests, so I turned instead to the attorney general and justice minister, Alpha Sesay. We met in his Freetown office. In an interview principally about mining, I steered the conversation on to Leijdekkers. “We are aware of the Dutch interest”, he told me. “We are investigating” he said, repeating the already much-used phrase.
“Isn’t he married to the President’s daughter?” I asked. “I wouldn’t know”, he replied. “But how hard is it,” I went on… “to find a white man wandering around the streets of Freetown, especially one said to be escorted by five or six heavily armed guards in military uniform?” “If the police do find him, then we will certainly arrest him,” the minister said – who by now seemed as nerve-wracked as I’d been feeling before we started talking. |
