Reuters AlertNet Lite - Peace on track, but Sierra Leone will need help

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Peace on track, but Sierra Leone will need help

07 Feb 2002

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A bonfire of surrendered weapons blazes at the Lungi garrison in January.
Photo by ALISTAIR THOMSON

Sierra Leone is seeing a revival of politics as the country prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections in May, designed to mark its return to civilian rule and the end of a decade of civil war. Rebels have been disarmed and refugees are returning home but the country still faces huge challenges, says Thalia Griffiths, and will need international support for many years to prevent it sinking back into conflict.
Sierra Leone has passed a remarkable number of milestones in recent weeks. Disarmament is complete, refugees are returning home, the curfew is lifted, a new International Monetary Fund programme is in place and voter registration is under way, but huge challenges remain as the shattered country prepares for elections in May.

The 1996 elections, held in defiance of the continuing civil war, were supposed to usher in a new era of civilian rule.

The vote was hailed as a triumph initially, but the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah failed to live up to voters’ expectations and the country was plunged further into conflict.

A military coup took place the following year and rebels allied with the military junta sacked the capital, Freetown.

This time, the rebels have been disarmed after a decade of fighting and the international community is playing a far greater role, but the task of establishing a lasting peace and rebuilding the ravaged country is even greater.

The ceremonial closure of the last disarmament camp took place in the eastern Kailahun district on January 11.

A night-time curfew was lifted on January 17 after nearly six years and a ceremonial burning of surrendered weapons was held on January 18 at the Lungi garrison near Freetown, marking the formal end of the civil war.

"There are still elements of threats to peace in our sub-region. These include the illicit transfer of arms and ammunition, the illicit trade in diamonds and other natural resources to fuel or prolong armed conflict and in the process wreak havoc on innocent and defenceless civilians," Kabbah said at the ceremony.

"There are still elements of threats to peace in our sub-region"

As well as the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other international bodies that supported the peace process, he singled out Britain, which sent troops to Sierra Leone, Nigeria, which supported the peace process and supplied the bulk of the ECOWAS intervention force, the United States and China, a significant aid donor.

"We know that peace doesn’t mean when the guns are silent. It goes beyond. So I think as much as I can say is we are on the process for peace," said Zainab Bangura, national coordinator of the civil society group Campaign for Good Governance.

Many people will keep a weapon at home in case hostilities flare again, but the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has lost much of its strength as a military organisation and has been brought into the national reconciliation process.

The movement’s political wing hopes to contest presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14.

ELECTORAL PROCESS
The U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), now at its full strength of 17,500, will be giving substantial support to the electoral process, including transporting electoral materials and officials, and ensuring security.

UNAMSIL intends to establish an electoral office in each of the country’s five electoral regions, and U.N. troops will patrol more widely to promote confidence during the polling period.

The United Nations is keen to hand over many of its current responsibilities to a government with a popular mandate. Elections should have been held in March 2001, but have been delayed both by the war and by the inertia of Kabbah's government.

For many Sierra Leoneans, the current political manoeuvring is a welcome sight after years of civil war. Many educated professionals have left the country but a vocal, influential civil society movement plays a major role in the reconciliation process.

Many of the major figures from the 1996 elections are preparing for a new battle. Kabbah is expected to run again, as is John Karefa-Smart, the 86-year-old leader of the United National People's Party who was runner-up to Kabbah last time.

A "Grand Alliance" of opposition parties has been established to challenge Kabbah’s Sierra Leone People's Party, but it is not clear how effectively it will hold together.

Johnny Paul Koroma, who overthrew Kabbah in 1997, recently resigned his post as chairman of the government’s Commission for the Consolidation of Peace and has said he, too, would stand in the election.

A two-week voter registration period made a slow start on January 24, but electoral officials said they expected the process to pick up in the coming days.

"We know that peace doesn’t mean when the guns are silent. It goes beyond."

The economy is showing cautious signs of recovery as confidence has returned and an international certification system boosted exports of diamonds from government-controlled mines.

Sierra Leone secured a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility from the IMF in September worth 169 million dollars over three years. A full IMF agreement unlocks substantial aid from other donors, and this was followed by a World Bank loan of 50 million dollars to support the country’s poverty reduction strategy, and a debt rescheduling agreement with the Paris Club of official creditors.

WAR CRIMES COURT
A long-promised international court to try war crimes suspects was formally established with the signature of an agreement between the government and the United Nations in Freetown on January 16.

The Special Court will prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law since November 30, 1996, the date of the Abidjan peace accord violated when rebels stormed the capital in 1997.

The tribunal is expected to try perhaps 20 people accused of a central role in the civil war, and jailed rebel leader Foday Sankoh is expected to be the main accused, although officials emphasise that it will not deal just with RUF members.

On the issue of child soldiers, U.N. officials say they are anxious to avoid trying teenagers who, they believe, would be better dealt with by rehabilitation programmes. The court is also likely to go easy on those RUF commanders that are taking part in the national reconciliation process and preparing to contest the May elections.

The proposal to establish a war crimes court formed part of the July, 1999, Lomé peace agreement that ended the civil war, but has been delayed by difficulties in raising funds.

Sierra Leonean officials hope the court will start work early next year. The prosecutor will be from outside Sierra Leone and will be appointed by the U.N. secretary-general after consultation with the government. The government will appoint a deputy prosecutor.

As the disarmament process has spread throughout the country, many refugees have returned spontaneously – some of them fleeing fighting in Liberia – and the U.N. refugee agency has brought back more than 5,000 people to their original homes in the northwestern district of Kambia.

The returnees left camps in the Forecariah region of Guinea at the end of 2000 but were unable to return immediately to their homes in Kambia and had been living in villages in the Lungi area, north of Freetown.

The task of resettling refugees and demobilising fighters is a formidable one, and Sierra Leone will need huge levels of international support for many years to prevent it sinking back into conflict.

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