Sierra Leone Civil War

The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991-2002) began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, leaving the nation with over 50,000 dead.

A lasting feature of the war, in which tens of thousands died, was the atrocities committed by the rebels, whose trademark was to hack off the hands or feet of their victims. The rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh has displayed a staggering capacity for brutality. In May 2000, the RUF overturned a fragile peace process and plunged the country back into war. Sankoh was captured on 17 May 2000, but this has not kept the RUF from continuing their fight and terror actions. It is well documented that the RUF is using terror tactics such as mass rape, torture and mutilation of civilians, abduction of children to become child soldiers or sex slaves and massive intimidation.

Before the outbreak of war, corruption and mismanagement in the diamond sector was one of the main reasons why Sierra Leone became, according to UN figures, the poorest country in the world. With the breakdown of state structures and the effective suppression of civilian opposition, wide corridors were opened for trafficking of arms and ammunition and drugs, all of which eroded national/regional security and facilitated crime within the country and between Sierra Leone and Liberia and even Guinea.

The RUF launched its first campaign into eastern Kailahun (Sierra Leone) from Liberia in March 1991. Sankoh was head of the military wing of the RUF that included in its ranks NPFL members and Burkinabes. According to Sierra Leonean writer Abdul Koroma, the rebels were quick to demonstrate their brutality, decapitating community leaders and putting their heads on stakes. Oxford University researcher Paul Richards claims that the Burkinabes did attempt some politicisation, but most of the lectures to villagers were delivered in French. Forced recruitment of children was also an early feature of rebel strategy. The intellectuals in the RUF opposed the methods being used, but within the first year of the rebellion, they had been eliminated in internal purges as Sankoh took over the movement. Among the victims were Kanu and Mansaray.

The Sierra Leone civilians seem to be the main target of RUF terror actions. At the beginning of May 2000, the RUF began an offensive action in the Masiaka region. Heavy reinforcements by the United Nations and British troops and a counter-offensive by government-allied militias repulsed the RUF rebels from the Masiaka area around May 14. During its week-long occupation of the area, the RUF committed well documented acts of murder, mutilation, rape, looting, and abduction against the civilian population.

Both the RUF and the government military enrolled child soldiers in defense of respective interests. This was of vital importance to the RUF’s collective power. Manipulating vulnerable minds enabled the RUF to establish an insurgent force that continually contradicted the government’s interests. The recruitment of child soldiers by both rebel groups and government forces is generally forced. Desperation for food and medical care often compels children into military life since it offers a source of income for themselves and their families.

Despite any peace agreements, Human Rights Watch reported that abuses were still continuing towards the end of 1999. Some Sierra Leone Rebels suggested that they would reject deployment of UN Peacekeeping forces if they were authorized to use force in order to disarm various factions. The process of disarmament has been slowly progressing.

In January 1999, world leaders intervened diplomatically to promote negotiations between the RUF and the government. The Lome Peace Accord, signed on 27 March 1999, was the result. Lome gave Foday Sankoh, the commander of the RUF, the vice presidency and control of Sierra Leone's diamond mines in return for a cessation of the fighting and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to monitor the disarmament process. RUF compliance with the disarmament process was inconsistent and, by May 2000, the rebels were advancing again upon Freetown. With help from a renewed UN mandate and Guinean air support, a British coup finally defeated the RUF. On 18 January 2002, President Kabbah declared the Sierra Leone Civil War officially over.

Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094194
http://www.globalissues.org/article/88/sierra-leone
http://www.afrol.com/News/sil007_civil_war.htm