Blair joins ranks of Sierra Leone's tribal rulers

By Nick Tattersall

MAHERA, Sierra Leone (Reuters) - In some parts of Sierra Leone, the tribal ruler is carried aloft on a hammock when he is crowned and decapitated after he dies, his head buried alongside those of his ancestors.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair got off lightly when he was made an honorary chief by traditional leaders during a visit to Sierra Leone late on Wednesday, escaping the former and surely hoping to avoid the latter.

Honoring Blair for Britain's help ending a brutal civil war seven years ago may have been a symbolic gesture, but for many Sierra Leoneans, tribal rulers retain a key role in the governance of their nation.

There are 149 such traditional leaders across the former British colony, known as paramount chiefs, each one tasked with guarding the lives and property of those in their chiefdom, resolving conflicts and ensuring the community has food.

"Your responsibility is to protect your people, secure them and do all you can do to appease them so that they lead a peaceful life," Paramount Chief Yembeh Mansaray III of Warawarayagala Kingdom told Reuters.

"We are not politicians, we rule throughout our lives until we die," he said, a cloth covered in magic charms on his head and a chain of elephant teeth around his neck.

Such is the esteem in which they are held among much of the population that 12 paramount chiefs sit in the national parliament in Freetown, one representing each of the West African country's districts.

"From pre-colonial times to today, paramount chiefs have provided leadership and guidance to their people," said Sierra Leone's minister of local government, Sidikie Brima.