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The impact of the civil war in Sierra Leone

 

The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted from 1991 to 2002. The Revolutionary United Front, led by Foday Sankoh and supported by Charles Taylor, fought against the constantly changing government.

Sierra Leone is rich in diamonds but the government never shared their success with the population. As a result, the population of Sierra Leone didn’t have faith in the government and its members. The RUF fought because of dissatisfaction with the government and desire for power. Many of their soldiers were men without perspectives and child soldiers, kidnapped and forced to fight. Ishmael Beah wrote “I would always tell people that I believe that children have the resilience to outlive their suffering, if given a chance.”

Charles Taylor and the RUF received the incomes of the diamond trade and the government was bankrupt. The underpaid army started attacking villages and recruiting people and children. Beah said that when he got his first gun, the corporal said that “this gun is your source of power in these times. It will protect you and provide you all you need, if you know how to use it well”. In the violent times of the Sierra Leone civil war, weapons were power; Ishmael learned that he should focus his sense of security and strength in his gun.

The EO (Executive Outcomes) worked together with the self-defence militias because the members didn’t trust the not reliable army, and together they recaptured the diamond mines in Koidu and rescued the local civilians.

In February 1996, Ahmad Kabbah became president of Sierra Leone and in November, he had to terminate the contract with the EO because the government debts were too high. In addition, the RUF was forced to sign a peace agreement with Kabbah’s government in Abidjan. Six months later, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council took the power and allied with the RUF and created an authoritarian regime. One year later, the elected government got back the control over Sierra Leone. Kabbah dissolved the army to rebuild it with more reliable soldiers. As a result, the RUF started with the so-called Operation No Living Thing, which means to kill or maim as many civilians as possible to punish them for supporting the new government.

In 1999, the RUF and government signed another peace agreement but the violence continued. Finally, the RUF-leader Foday Sankoh got arrested by British soldiers and the disarmament of rebels started. In addition, the biggest global diamond merchants agreed to refuse buying diamonds from conflict countries as Sierra Leone. This agreement is called The Kimberly Process; “The Kimberley Process (KP) is a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds – rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments.” This agreement weakened the war parties. In fact, it was hard for them to keep fighting without the required amount of financial support.

In May of the same year, new elections confirmed Kabbah with 70.1% as the new president. He strengthened the human rights, arranged the rebuilding of Sierra Leone together with the UNIOSIL and increased the economic development.

The war caused a lot of victims, amputees, expellees and escaped civilians. War, rape and torture traumatized most of the population. Saidu, a friend of Ishmael, said “Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even though I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you.” This shows how much war influenced the civilians; Saidu will never be the same and he will never look at the world and people as he used to do, and Ishmael joined the army to avenge the death of his family and to stay alive, but he said that in this process he will “kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end.”

 

 


 

Works Cited

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of A Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print.

"Guerilla-Krieg Gegen Die Regierung In Sierra Leone." Guerilla-Krieg Gegen Die Regierung In Sierra Leone. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2013. <

"Ishmael Beah - Quotes." Ishmael Beah - Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <

"Sierra Leone Civil War." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <

"The Kimberley Process (KP)." The Kimberley Process (KP). N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Jan. 2014. <

 


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