Fall/Winter 1999 - HR in Sierra Leone

continued . . . Sierra Leone, by Daniel Bausch, MD

With the sound of gunfire coming ever closer, Aiah Kanu told his two younger brothers to "Take what’s important to you and let’s go." Seven years later, he finds himself one of an estimated 500,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in neighboring Guinea. The toll of eight years of civil war for Aiah: His house and village burned, father killed, sister missing since 1996, a promising career in engineering turned to that of a driver/mechanic. Aiah’s tale is all too common in Sierra Leone. Between 100,000 and 150,000 people have been killed in this small West African country of five million people. Another 10,000 have been maimed, many by the rebel’s trademark deliberate chopping off of limbs. Virtually no one has been left untouched by the violence, both physical and emotional, which will take generations to heal.

This wasn’t always that way for this would-be tropical paradise. For a time Sierra Leone seemed to have it all: broad sandy beaches, lush rain forest, and a good-humored English Creole flair. The country sported the first university in sub-Saharan Africa and vast diamond mines. But trouble was brewing. The governments replacing the British after independence in 1961 practically institutionalized corruption. The standard of living deteriorated, prompting an uprising in 1991 from a rebel force called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) lead by Foday Sankoh.

This may at first appear to be a remake of the conflicts in El Salvador or Chiapas: Suffering peasants given no choice but to take up arms against their oppressors. But if the rebels ever had a noble motive, it quickly deteriorated to self-serving mayhem. Virtually everyone agrees that the government was corrupt and changes needed to be made; virtually no one supports the rebels. What could have been a struggle for social justice turned into a campaign noted for its brutality and greed. James’ brother and sister-in-law, making do in Freetown, the capitol, with one arm left between the two of them, bare tragic testimony.

To understand the situation in Sierra Leone, one has to consider it in the context of its neighbors, Liberia and Nigeria. In the late 1980s, powerful and violent warlords vied for control in Liberia. Among them was the eventual winner and current President, Charles Taylor. In attempts to stem the violence, a West African peace-keeping force, the Economic Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), was established, comprised mostly of Nigerian troops. With the Liberian capital Monrovia too insecure, ECOMOG chose nearby Sierra Leone as its base.

Most claim that the RUF started as a mix of Sierra Leoneans, Liberians and Burkinabes organized and armed by Taylor to get revenge for Sierra Leone’s cooperation with ECOMOG, simultaneously keeping ECOMOG troops too busy to "meddle" in Liberia. His statement "Sierra Leone will taste the bitterness of war," lends credence to the theory.

Then, of course, there are the diamonds—an estimated $300 million worth in 1998. It is no coincidence that the war in Sierra Leone started in the diamond-rich eastern province. Although eventually no area of the country was spared, this region has always been the epicenter of the conflict. But it is not only West Africans who recognize the value of a diamond. Although hard to quantify, it is apparent that powerful international business forces from other parts of Africa, Europe and beyond have a hand in the conflicts. Ironically, Sierra Leoneans themselves derive little benefit from the jewels beneath their feet. The rock for which a "lucky" Sierra Leonean is paid a few hundred dollars may be ultimately sold in Belgium for thousands. The ground may be rich, but life above continues to be marked by poverty and violence.

Sierra Leone has seesawed since the onset of the war, descending deeper into chaos with each change. A series of military coups finally gave way to the election of a civilian government in 1996. Dr. Tijan Kabbah became president and shortly thereafter a peace accord was signed. With a cease-fire in place and Foday Sankoh under arrest, a glimmer of light appeared. But darkness again prevailed in the 1997 coup by a rebel splinter group, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), led by Johnny Paul Koroma. Koroma gave little semblance of standing for anything but the AFRC’s own self-interest. The war, which had been largely confined to the eastern diamond mining areas, now surfaced in the capital. Freetown underwent a ten-month siege of terror. Armed gangs from all sides—rebels, soldiers and sobels (soldiers by day and rebels by night)—roamed the streets freely with a "grab what you can" mentality. Six thousand people died of murder and starvation and a third of the city was destroyed. In early 1998, a major counter-offensive by ECOMOG forces reinstalled Tijan Kabbah and stabilized the capital. But Freetown’s gain was perhaps rural Sierra Leone’s loss.

Pursued by ECOMOG troops the rebels retreated back to the forest. The rural civilian population was trapped in the crossfire. Refugees flowed across the border. Finally, in July 1999, with the participation of the UN and Organization of African States, yet another peace accord was signed. Whether the conditions of the accords will be met remains anybody’s guess. Most Sierra Leoneans, having seen accords come and go, feel compelled to temper their hope for peace with skepticism. And will the often clandestine international marketeers who have made fortunes manipulating the Sierra Leone diamond mines ever relinquish their claims? Maintaining instability there has distinct advantages for them, and they are often powerful. "I don’t think there would have been a war if we didn’t have diamonds" says James Khomba.

Africans can’t understand the world’s aggressive responses to conflicts such as Kosovo or East Timor, which are relatively minor compared to those in African nations such as Sierra Leone and Rwanda. "For Africans, there hasn’t been much done to make people feel like they are part of this world" says James.

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