The Sierra Leone War: The Pursuit For Peace

Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest

New Guinea highlanders can go to war with each other to avenge ghosts or to exct revenge for the killing of one of their one. As we have to seen from other reports, or lessens we have discussed, people don't seen to comprehend the complex interrelationship among the various parts of their own social system.

While analyzing the North Africa conflict, a combination of service capabilities would be required to achieve the desired end state of deterring and if necessary, the defeat of Algerian guerilla aggression to prevent regional and global destabilization. Taking into account the current military landscape that exists today, a joint task force (JTF) would be the ideal military response of the United States and collation partner’s while utilizing the regional military assets. Intelligence suggests guerilla forces are capable of a full scale offensive into Morocco in less than 36 hour notice, bringing the factors of time, force and space into consideration.

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

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

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

In 1991, the Sierra Leone Civil War started. Rebels invaded Beah's hometown, Mogbwemo, located in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, and he was forced to flee. Separated from his family, he spent months wandering south with a group of other boys. At the age of 12, he was forced to become a child soldier. According to Beah's account, he fought for almost three years before being rescued by UNICEF.[1] Beah fought for the government army against the rebels. In 1997, he fled Freetown by the help of the UNICEF due to the increasing violence and found his way to New York City, where he lived with Laura Simms, his foster mother. In New York City, Beah attended the United Nations International School. After high school, he enrolled at Oberlin College and graduated in 2004 with a degree in Political Science.[1]

On March 23, 1991, the civil war in Sierra Leone began when the RUF attempted to overthrow the Sierra Leone government. The war lasted a total of 11 years ending in 2002 with a estimated total of 50,000 people dead. In the beginning the RUF did not have enough soldiers to fight, so on the idea that the Sierra Leone government would not fire on children, they began recruiting kids as young as seven. After a while the government too had a lack of soldiers and began recruiting children. In 2002 after the RUF been defeated President Kabbah declared the Sierra Leone Civil War over.

When we examine the civil war that took place in Sierra Leone that split the country apart in the early 90's, we see an evolution of the modern mercenary on the battlefield. I say an evolution, not a revolution, because utilizing mercenaries to supplement government troops has taken place since the inception of warfare. What is unique in the specific situation of the Sierra Leone Conflict, is that for the first time we see a melding of a business corporation and a traditional mercenary outfit. What is surprising is just how effective it was. When we think of the corporate world, the only violence of action we associate is perhaps the occasional hostile corporate takeover in a boardroom. However, these two separate entities work

Samuel Momodu attended both Nashville State Community College for his Associate of Arts Degree in History, as well as Tennessee State University for his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. Momodu now is a historian working for blackpast.org which is an independent, non-profit organization. He studies African History around the world. Momodu wrote this article in 2007 to inform those who are reading A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, or anyone who is curious about the civil war that occured in Sierra Leone. When writing his article, Momodu’s goal was to educate people about what the actual causes of the Sierra Leone Civil War were, as well as

On globalsecurity.org, the writers state that, “On 30 November 1996, President Kabbah signed the Abidjan Peace Agreement with the Revolutionary United Front.” This agreement sought to unite the country under peace by giving the RUF roles in government. However, a coup led by a portion of the army, known as the AFRC, put many high-ranking officials out of office and incorporated the RUF into their newly taken government to lead (globalsecurity.org). The United Nations later has to step in to fix the broken country. To prevent the importation of weapons and military materials, the United Nations placed an embargo on the country of Sierra Leone. Neighbouring African countries and the UN deployed troops to neutralise the hostile Sierra Leone traitors and the Revolutionary United Front, finally leading to the war’s end on 18 January 2002 (globalsecurity.org). This allows for former government officials to reclaim their positions in

The understanding and applicability of post genocide reconciliation and transitional approaches has been a challenge over the years. The subject of which approach seems most applicable to one country or the other has been a debate, and in some cases, as these approaches have been a failure and resulted to the escalation of conflict in the process of providing solutions for restoration of peace. As the United Nations emphasised, in discussing the effectiveness of governance in restoring peace in conflict ridden countries, states that “[the] experience with post conflict reconstruction and recovery…for creating [and securing]…long term political stability… has changed over time as governments and external support organizations learned more about the complexities and challenges in crisis and post conflict countries” (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; United Nations Development Programme, 2007, p. 8). In this same manner, Helena Cobban (2007) engages in an ethnographic study of a comparative analysis on the post genocide solutions applied in Rwanda, South Africa and Mozambique - restorative justice: truth and reconciliation process; prosecution-based approach/retributive

Through the British intervention, Blair was very instrumental to ending the Sierra Leone civil war. While the RUF was pre-occupied with Britain’s role of evacuating UN peacekeepers and foreign nationals, Blair had perceived the idea to prove his ethical point developed by his Labour Party. After the deployment of 1,000 British troops in May 2000, Blair soon justified a more aggressive form of humanitarian intervention, one that would use force and provide logistical support to UNAMSIL forces thus finding a reason to remain and train local government forces. He later stated that “[Sierra Leone] is now on its feet, able to hold and have proper democratic elections. And when you see something as gruesome and graphic as [the amputated civilians] you realize how important it is in these circumstance that somebody somewhere was prepared to go and stand-by them (ITV, 2012).

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.