Blair joins ranks of Sierra Leone's tribal rulers

MAHERA, Sierra Leone, June 1 (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.

Honouring 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.

FEARSOME WARRIORS Although elected by local officials known as ''tribal authorities'', paramount chiefs have to be from ''ruling houses'', families who trace their ancestry back to the warriors and hunters who controlled the jungle before white settlers arrived.

Visitors to some villages in Sierra Leone's lush mangrove swamps and undulating tropical forests are still expected to present themselves to the chief on arrival, or risk eviction.

''Every paramount chief has his own area of jurisdiction. I have ruled for 36 years and my kingdom is peaceful,'' said Paramount Chief Massa Yeli Thiam II, one of the nation's longest serving tribal leaders.

When Sierra Leone won independence from Britain in 1961, the British royal family gave a wooden throne to each paramount chief as a mark of friendship and respect, one of which was occupied by Blair at his coronation.

''It is very fitting that this chair was given to paramount chiefs during the course of the independence of Sierra Leone,'' Blair said, stood under two towering cotton trees in the township of Mahera, across the river from the capital Freetown.

''It has a different symbolism by my presence here today, which is not the old symbolism of colonialism but of partnership between our two countries,'' he said to rapturous applause.

Traditional rulers usually spend months in a ''kanta'', an area of sacred land in the bush, going through secretive rites which vary from district to district before being crowned.

Blair's coronation was a swifter affair: a robe was thrown over his shoulders and a cap put in his hand before tribal authorities bowed at his feet, chanting to endorse his appointment.

His honorary title bestows few real privileges, although paramount chiefs are allowed many wives -- one had as many as 50 -- so that children of commoners can enter the hereditary line.

It is not a custom Blair's wife, Cherie, wants to continue.

''I think there are times when you need to depart from tradition,'' she told Reuters, as ululating women celebrated her husband's coronation behind her.

REUTERS SM PM0857