Civil War in Sierra Leone

I. IntroductionBetween 1991 and 2002, sierra Leone was to a great extent damaged by a tremendously violent cultivated fight. This strong-bred fight erupted because of the mounting dissatisfaction of the people, especially the youth that were engrossed by the rebellious Revolutionary unite bet (RUF), to state of state of wards the politics of the pastoral that was set apart by its corruption, negligence and electoral violence. It took the lives of e very(prenominal)where 50,000 individuals, dis behindd over two million inhabitants and withal heavily ruin their national rescue.According to Paul Collier and Marguerite Duponchel (2010), sierra Leone was at the concluding take of the United Nations ontogeny Programmes (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) after the cultured war came to an end. The aim of this paper is to construct attention on how this civil war was carried out, the efforts do to resolve the fighting as well as the do the war brought on its economy a nd civilians. on that pointfore, section one of this paper exit examine how the resources of sierra Leone contributed to the civil war. sectionalisation two will demonstrate the demographics of the parties involved in the war. Section trinity will focus on the repercussions that the civil war brought on sierra Leone and the final section will show the efforts made to contribute rest into sierra Leone.II. Section one How withstand up sierra Leones natural resources contributed to the war?Lets begin with a flat coat history of the political situations that principally caused the civil war in Sierra Leone. In the age after the death of Sierra Leones initiative Prime see Sir Milton Margai in 1964, the politics of the outlandish was progressively lofty by several negative factors, much(prenominal) as corruption and mismanagement, that conduct to the weakening of the civil society resulting in the frustration of a giant amount of the youth who engrossed themselves in the unruly message of the RUF. This was because of leaders, such as Albert Mergai, who used Sierra Leone for their stimulate selfish interests rather than in the peoples interest.Mergai, unlike his br other(a) Milton Margai, used the country for his possess personal gain by rase using themilitary to tone grim multi-party elections which threatened to end his regularisation. When Siaka Stevens succeeded, on that point was continued destruction of state institutions.His rule was characterized by corruption and pet projects financed by the treasury, which eventually became bankrupt, only benefiting those imminent to him. afterwards turning Sierra Leone into a one-party state, Stevens finally stepped down in 1985. Major General Joseph Momoh received the position of Prime Minister and followed in the footsteps of Stevens by welcoming corruption resulting in complete economical disintegration.The fact that the leaders used the abundant resources of Sierra Leone for their own ego tr ip made the country one of the poorest countries in the world by the cadence the civil war took place in 1991. (Gberie, 1998)The Sierra Leone war began on March 23rd, 1991, when the student-led RUF began its revolt against the Serra Leone regimen, which commenced in Liberia and spread to the b crop regions of Kailahun and Pijehun. Several members of this subversive group were jobless dissatisfied young men who were motivated by Charles Taylors rebel National Patriotic Front invasion in Liberia.With the bearing of Lybia and Charles Taylor, RUFs oddment was to remove from spring the government of the on the whole Peoples Congress (APC) that was run by the presidencies of Siaka Stevens and Joseph Momoh which prolonged corruption, among other things. (Humphreys and Weinstein, 2008)Several researches indicate that the presence of alluvial baseball fields, found in regions such as Kono and Kenema, ushered in a civil war in m whatsoever commissions. Firstly, during the disposal of Stevens, the highly uneven benefits of the infield mining frustrated e veryday Sierra Leoneans.Profits from the National Diamond Mining Corporation (DIMCO) only enriched Stevens, government members, and powerful business people that were close with Stevens. Subsequently, the government lost direct cook of the diamond mining beas when DeBeers, one of the worlds leading diamond companies, ceased doing business with the Sierra Leonean government in 1984.As a result, there was sinful smuggling and trading of Sierra Leones diamonds with the proceeds going into the surreptitious investors pockets. Although the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) seized power in 1992, with the goal of diminishing corruption and restoring the revenues of the diamonds anchor to the state, the RUF acquired control of these abundant alluvial diamond argonas to finance the purchase of weapons and ammunition obtained from countries like Liberia and Guinea. The simple availability of these diamonds was an bonus for violence. (Harsch, 2007) Although diamonds were a noteworthy commodity, other ways to fund the Sierra Leone well-be energised war were withal present.A mixture of iron, bauxite, coffee and cocoa were in copiousness in the country. There was gold mining in some areas of Sierra Leone as well as cash crop farming which were even to a greater extent common done forced labor. Along with the high affect of diamonds, several of these minerals financed the fighting in Sierra Leone with exports revenues as high as USD 25 million and USD 125 million a year.Sierra Leoneans who joined the rebel group RUF also ransacked cars, livestock and money which helped them in gaining more energy and force. (Lujala, 2005)III. Section two The demographics of the parties involved in the warWhen the RUF was source founded by Foday Sankoh, it was popular among several Sierra Leoneans because of the resentment they felt towards the corrupt capital of Sierra Leone elites.It had a slogan that read No More Slaves, No more Masters. Power and Wealth to the People that pledged free education, wellness apportion and a fair sharing of the diamond proceeds to the people. It did not exact to fight for a particular ethnic group or district and did not go any Marxist, Socialist or Communist way of thinking. Its only goal was to remove the corrupt government from power although they provided exact insight on what kind of government would follow it. (Denov, 2010) However, as while passed, the RUF developed a reputation for cosmos a massively stern rebel group during its ten year war.Although there is no skillful data to verify the yield of tiddlerren that were involved in the war, it has been found that the RUF were the first to recruit children as soldiers. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), over 10,000 children of both sexes were involved in the fighting in one way or other. They were kidnapped in their villages and town s during attacks executed by the RUF.With their allies, the African Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), girls and boys were organized in separate units such as the gauzy Boys Units (SBUs) and Small Girls Unit (SGUs) which were argumented by several officers. The stay putder between how girls and boys were used is that, in addition to being used as fighters, girls were also sex slaves. Youngergirls were primarily used for domestic labor, since they could not properly fight yet, and whence became sex slaves as they grew older.The brutality of the war had frozen their senses, which were also damaged by drug abuse. In order to stay alive, they had to frequently become merciless. Most of these children had to either amputate or kill their loved ones to show that they were loyal. (Denov, 2010)An additional feature of the mobilization of children against their will was the re-enlistment of children after the disarmament wreak took place in 1998. Several children were re-enlisted co ngest into the armed groups. This especially concerned children who did not have families to go back to even before the war started. Children who were let go from centers like the retardation Care Centre, which was a center created to help displaced children, had no other place to go after demobilization.They eventually got captured by the rebels and were forced to tell them if they had any brothers or sisters that ran away. (Jow, 2004) The Sierra Leone government also followed in enlisting children beneath Momohs rule. Momohs government encouraged chiefs and district leaders to snip civilians into local unofficial groups to add soldiers into the Sierra Leone Army (SLA).When Momoh fled to Guinea, the NPRC government of Valentine Strasser was mainly responsible for the highest recruitment of children into the army to boost the amount of soldiers they previously had. There was an illicit enlistment of children while the income and benefits of the deceased soldiers was stolen by sen ior officers for whom this war had become a money-making business. (Jow, 2004)When the war was over, many children did not return to their lively families. This was mainly because some of them were abducted so young that they did not even have any recollection of their families. Some were so horrified of being rejected by their families like others have been that they refused to go back home.Girls were especially afraid of rejection for being sex slaves to the rebels especially if they had babies from them. Rather than face shame, a number of these people ended up on the streets with significant health problems since roughly of them were addicted to the drugs that were initially forcibly administered by the rebels during the civil war. (Kamara, 2004)IV. Section three Efforts made to stop the civil warIn March 1995, a few days after the war started, a military group known asExecutive Outcomes (EO) entered Sierra Leone. Its mission was to return the diamonds and mineral mines back to the government, supplant the command centers of the RUF and to organize a program that would persuade ordinary Sierra Leoneans to encourage the Sierra Leone government. EO was a military group that hired Angolans and Namibians that were substantially skillful in operating counter attacks against the RUF.EO joined forced with the Kamajors, another paramilitary group that surfaced against RUF, and the SLA to force the RUF rebels out of the diamonds centers they firmly controlled for several years. After EO took over RUFs centers of operation near a town called Bo, the RUF had to own up to their losses and sign the Abidjan Peace Accord. This accord, however, demanded that the EO leave the country. EO was told to leave by the Sierra Leone government even before the arrival of another peacekeeping mission force. (Bellows and Miguel, 2005)The AFRC, supported by members of the RUF, took power after Executive Outcomes left the country make President Kabbah to flee to Guinea in exile. The AFRC partnered with the RUF rebels naming Foday Sankoh the lieutenant Chairman of the AFRC. The deed Pay Yourself introduced a whole new level of violence against the innocent inhabitants who had their limbs chopped off.As a result, many were against the AFRC because their actions violated the civil rights of the people. The AFRC coup of the presiding government was also condemned by the Economic Community of due west African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Diplomats were sent back to their countries, missions were cancelled, and the countrys membership in the Commonwealth was put on hold. (Olonisakin, 2008)In October 2007, the involution of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring assemblage (ECOMOG) brought the AFRC and RUF insurgents to the negotiating table. The rebels agreed to a ceasefire by signing the Conakry Peace Plan. The fighting, however, motionless continued. Although ECOMOG forces were able to restore the Kabbah government, they had poor training in counter-insurgency attacks from the RUF.Therefore, the rebels went to capital of Sierra Leone to booty neighborhoods and rape citizens without discrimination. This battering of citizens is known as Operation No vitality Thing. Thisled the Kabbah government consider making considerable compromises in the Lome Peace Agreement. (Wright et al., 2010)The conditions of the Lome Peace Accord, signed on July 7th, 1999, were that Sakoh would be allowed to go unpunished. He would also be appointed as Vice-president of the perpetration that supervised the diamond mines of the country. In return, the RUF agreed to demobilize and disarm its rebels infra the custody of peace keeping forces led by ECOMOG and the United Nations.This transcription led to many Sierra Leonean protests along with other human rights militant because of the fact that Sankoh, the leader of the RUF responsible for unspeakable atrocities, got away scot-free and w as also addicted control over Sierra Leones diamond mines.However, this accord was very crucial for the government to regain peace through a process known as Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR). During this disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process, ex-soldiers were trained to use their skills for a peaceful line of seduce for six weeks. (Williams and Alfred, 1999)The United Nations Mission to Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) also joined to disarm and implement the conditions that were set up by the Lome Peace Agreement and brought along military personnel, who change magnitude over time, to supervise the diamond mines and the RUF who were shut away undermining their authority.By March 2001, the number of soldiers present through the UN was up to 17,500. In May 2000, RUF detained UNAMSIL peacekeepers to use their weapons and gain control of Freetown once again which made UNAMSIL avoid getting involved in diamond mining areas controlled by the rebels.This re-arm ament of the RUF by UNAMSIL called for another military involvement that was made to rescue the peacekeepers and the Sierra Leone government known as Operation Palliser. This operation, which consisted of British Royal Marines, helped in stabilizing the country. These marines evacuated foreign citizens out of the country and saved UNAMSIL from collapsing. The rebel forces were repelled from regions further than Freetown, under the command of General David Richards, and power was given back to the government. (Anon, 2000)As awareness spread about the diamonds of Sierra Leone, the Kimberly serve wellmet to assemble in Kimberly, South Africa. The United Nation took notice of the diamonds, also known as conflict diamonds, and its implications. The United States government followed, under the command of President Bill Clinton, by devising a plan to keep the conflict diamonds out of the market legally.With 49 members representing 75 countries, the Kimberly Process has made diamond indust ries stop exportations to Liberia, Canada and other leaders in the business. Although there are no diamond-fueled wars any longer, the Kimberly Process is still playing an important percentage by maintaining stability.It helps in developing improved trading centers that are authorise as conflict-free and provides ways to promote legal legislative structures that lead to peace treaties helping those in poverty. (Anon, 1998) V. Section four The aftermath of the civil war on the economy and the Sierra Leonean peopleThe civil war has had devastating effects on the socio-economic order of Sierra Leone. Agriculture was greatly damaged causing high inflation of goods and unemployment. Sierra Leones infrastructure was also heavily destroyed. Roads were ruined and the power supply system depreciated due to neediness of maintenance. The public health division was also in a direful condition because of the looting of the hospitals and clinics during the war.The civil war caused a lot of hea lth passkeys to leave the country out of fear instigating an acute shortage of pendent staff members present in hospitals. As living standards fell to the ground, strike the poorest even harder, many citizens moved from rural areas to the cities and towns hoping for better living conditions. However, door to health services depended on how much one could pay. Others were forced to judge refugee status in other countries while they lived in deplorable conditions lamentable from one area to another. (Kargbo, 2002)As years went by, several Non Governmental Agencies and the Sierra Leonean government have tracked Sierra Leones recovery. The country is recovering well from it civil war scars with the help of the international community and its partners. According to the data collected by the government of Sierra Leone Institutional Reform and electrical capacity Building (IRCBP) in 2004 and 2005, districts that experienced greater violence have had approximately betterresults.To s ome extent, they seemed to be more politically organized then other areas that were less affected by the violence of the civil war. elector registration was notably higher in these areas. Community meetings were also easily elevated statistically. When an IRCBP survey asked people how the war affected their ability to work together, 60% of people declared that it had a positive impact to their society. Theoretically, these changes could have improved the public of Sierra Leone. (Mutwol, 2009)Peace remained in the country with the help of the United Nations peace missions. Four years after the war was over, in 2006, the withstand group of the 17,500 soldiers flew out of Freetown and left the newly trained police in charge. Nowadays, the country is advertised as a tourist love with the help of British travel companies. They want sophisticated and adventurous travelers, who unremarkably visit other more established tourist terminals, to come to Sierra Leone and have cocktails by their beautiful beaches.One example is Lakka beach, which was a luxury destination before the war. It is trying to attract tourists by running several restaurants and organizing sportfishing excursions for Europeans tourists. Sierra Leones goal is to be recognized for its chocolate coconut tree bars rather than by the awful civil war that occurred. (Desai, 2010)Although there has been considerable progress over the last ten years, there are still plenty of challenges that Sierra Leone must face. Most of the former child soldiers have returned to their former lives without any education or jobs. Children are still found working in the diamond mines. Work still form in providing jobs for the massively unemployed youths, shelter for the orphans and rehabilitation for children who were forced to charge a number of crimes along with women of all ages who were also abused in many different ways.Since these women have been ostracized by members of their own community for being sex slav es, there is a need for more counseling and support services to help them get back to their communities. The predicaments of these people can also be decreased by increasing the amount of educational and professional training. This country also faces great challenges in restructuring its judicial institutions to fairly begin perpetrators of the war to justice. (Collier and Duponchel, 2010) VI.ConclusionThere are many misconceptions as to why the civil war in Sierra Leone occurred. What needs to be understood about the civil war is that it was not based on economic benefits acquired by the alluvial diamond mines. Although these diamonds have significantly contributed to the war, there was more than twenty years of poor governance, poverty, corruption and oppression that helped in forming the RUF as frustrations against the government increased over the years. This civil war has crippled many people for life, in one way or another.Sierra Leone is still sustaining itself through the h elp of donors although it is very rich in natural resources. Much work needs to be done to further improve the lives of the people in Sierra Leone who are still living in poverty. It is yet to been seen if peace will remain in the country with the amount of unemployed young people mercurial in the streets. Any threat to the stability of the country should be dealt with peacefully as soon as possible.