Sierra Leone the Struggles of building a Nation Building a nation… Slavery, Independence, Constitution, Military coups to Presidential elections! Senior Enlisted leaders, it is important to know that the freedoms we all prefer comes with a cost of sacrifice, bloodshed, and for some, nation before self for democracy. This essay will discuss the background, government, strategic importance, and future direction of Sierra Leone. Background Sierra Leone is located on the West Coast of Africa, its history dates back to 1462 when a Portuguese explorer named Pedro da Cintra detailed his adventures along the coast and came up with the name “Sierra Lyoa” meaning Lion Mountains (the Sierra Leone Web, 2011). There are three provinces and sixteen …show more content…
Sierra Leone’s first President, Prime Minister Milton Margai led Sierra Leone in the first general election after gaining its independence. Soon after the newly elected government was in place, it sustained several failed military coup attempts and student demonstrations that disrupted its politics through 1977. In early1990, constitutional review commission’s objective was to broaden the existing political process, guarantee human rights, and strengthen the democratic foundation and re-establishment of a multi-party system of government and it became effective on October 1, 1991. There was great suspicion of the president and in 1992; a group of young military officers launched a military coup, which sent the President into exile. In April 1996, the country held presidential and parliamentary elections for the first time under the system of proportional representation. Maj. Johnny Koroma of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council overthrew sitting President Kabbah in 1997, and invited rebel army Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to join the government (the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service, 2002). After 10 months in office, Maj. Koroma ousted and the democratically elected government of President Kabbah returned to office in March 1998. Another unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government resulted in the loss of life and destruction of
reality of the most brutal 20th century civil war in Sierra Leone. Mariatu tells a very
A brief historical account of Sierra Leone may provide only a glimmer as to why the Sierra
In Ishmael Beah’s memoir “A Long Way Gone”, Beah’s imagery reflects both his decrepit emotional state and Sierra Leone’s disarray. When Beah explains how he and Kaloko went to Kamator to see if there were signs of anything living, he describes the scene as such, “The silence in the village was too scary. I was scared when the wind blew, shaking the thatched roofs, and I felt as if I were out of my body wandering somewhere” (46). Here, Beah’s distinguished use of imagery represents his worn emotional state and Sierra Leone’s disarray. How the war has not only turned villages into ghost towns, but also displays the emptiness and the fear that he has felt during this experience. This imagery represents the effects the war had on Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone has been involved in a humungous amount of absurd human rights violations since 1991 when the civil war erupted. This detailed paper on the book, A Long Way Gone, set in Sierra Leone, will create interest by summarizing the memoir through descriptive examples and text on symbolism and imagery. The author of this memoir A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is Ishmael Beah, it's difficult to believe that this is a true and harsh story. You will be learning about Ishmael's resilience and the horrible struggles he faced as a child soldier, while somehow continuing to have hope. Ishmael Beah, 12 at the beginning of this memoir, unexpectedly gets recruited into a time consuming war over blood diamonds, against the rebels as a young child. Ishmael is at a loss, since with his own eyes he viewed not only his loving family, but his whole village as it was horrifically torn down by the dangerous rebels. Ishmael is not physically lonely during the book, but he is emotionally
These events that led to the civil war in Sierra Leone destroyed its economic, political, and social system. The economics have been driven down since independence as seen before, from smugglers, to crooked political leaders destroying the economic system into pieces. The collapse of the economic system can trace back to many things. The political system has played a big part in it. The corrupt leaders as seen before in history like Stevens, and Mohob. In the book “Along Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah he experiences the messed up politics. He had first heard about it in the news about neighboring wars. Those wars were in Liberia. He had first hand experience, as he had fought for the government side which is no better than the rebels known as RUF. Ishmael roughly experiences this as he says
Speculate on what each character might mean when she says the following. a. Adah: “[Father] is not of a mind to receive certain news. Perhaps he should clean more chicken houses.” (Book Three) In the quote, Adah had just learned that in the native language, the word for “baptism,” was also the word for “terrify,” when used incorrectly; father had been using the word incorrectly of course.
The change in Sierra Leone culture is one of the first consequences of war seen in the story. Throughout the civil war the rebels (RUF) recruited or forced many children to become soldiers. In order to get these children they would raid villages and then draft the strongest ones. They would then tell the children that they would not need their families
Before reading “A Long Way Gone,” I was not at all familiar with the civil wars occurring in Sierra Leone. I didn’t know anything about Sierra Leone’s political dynamics either, however I could infer much about what might be going on there if asked. At least that is what I thought. That is until I read part of Ishmael’s memoir. I figured, previously to reading the memoir, that civil wars began as a result of some generally good reason, and were continued for a generally good reason. The civil wars in Sierra Leone, as I read, were quite the opposite, rather blind fight for power, as narrated by Beah, “A lot of things were done with no reason or explanation.” It is also implied that each side in the war believed that they themselves were doing
¹A cilvic war of corruption have turned apart the relationships of Sierra Leone and the trust among its people, its travesty esstitally have destroy once peaceful community. Prior to the cilvic war, the people of Sierra Leoner have shared an intimate relationship with each other, they were a tight communities, until the war took away their lives, forcefully turning the family against each other.
Whilst leading to civilians fleeing Sudan and Sierra Leone to start new lives. The histories behind both wars are quite similar as both were solely motivated by natural resources and power imbalance. As The Revolutionary United Front had established in 1991 as rebel army that shared one goal, which was to overthrow Sierra Leone's government. Often referred to as the “Blood Diamond” era in certain African countries. Although diamonds and natural resources were a significant motivating factor, there were other causes of the Sierra Leone Civil War. Such as the pre-war frustrations and injustices that had transpired for decades. More than twenty years of poor governance, poverty and corruption created a setting for the RUF causing a rebellion, as civilians desired for change in Sierra Leone. Corruption and mismanagement led to the downfall of the country leading to an increase of recruits for the RUF. For Sierra Leoneans who did not have access to cultivating land, joining the rebel cause was an opportunity to seize property with deadly force. After leaving over 50 000 casualties and 2.6 million citizens displaced from Sierra Leone. The war came to an end in 2002 concluding in a loss for the
On March 23rd, 1991, a civil war started between the Sierra Leonean Government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). This war had an enormous impact on everyone in and around the country, especially young civilian boys who were taken from their families and homes to become child soldiers. One of these former government soldiers is Ishmael Beah, who was brought into this battle between powers at only 13 years old. Throughout his lifetime, he has had to confront many challenges and conflicts, most of which can be found in his memoir, “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.” After reading his memoir, I have gained much knowledge on the topic of both the Sierra Leone Civil War and the issue of children becoming soldiers. The themes of this
A Roman Catholic priest by the name of Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president of Haiti in late 1990. Political prisoners were set free and Duvailer's Tontons were disbanded. There was much hope for the government under the new presidency, but due to the lack of confidence from the military, Aristide was overthrown in 1991.
Sierra Leone is one of the many countries that are on the coast of West Africa. A rich country fell victim to barbaric people. Sierra Leone was named but not founded, by Portuguese sailor, Pedro de Sintra. Sierra Leone was colonized by Great Britain in 1807 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This was the start of their rule over West Africa.
In a study done by Catherine Bolten 2002, the civilians living in Makeni, Sierra Leone, describe their relationship with the ex-combatants of the Revolutionary
Paul Collier and Marguerite Duponchel examine how civil war impacts the economical developmental of the West African country , Sierra Leone. The authors discuss several consequences that Sierra Leone is facing because of the civil war that occurred from 1991 to 2002. For example, poor literacy is a result of the civil war because many children were prevented from going to school. As a result, majority of the population in Sierra Leone is made of young youth and adult, whose lack education. Collier and Duponchel explore areas in which the economical legacy of Sierra Leone is deplete as a result of the civil war. Collier and Duponchel state, “ The results confirm our theory: the size of firms in 2006 is negatively affected by the intensity