In this series, we will be highlighting the findings and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was set up to investigate the civil war.

According to the TRC report, the central cause of the senseless brutal war was endemic greed, corruption and nepotism. That deprived the nation of its dignity and reduced most people to a state of poverty. Government accountability was non-existent, and institutions meant to uphold human rights such as the courts and civil society were thoroughly co-opted by the executives. The war in Sierra Leone was largely waged by Sierra Leoneans against Sierra Leoneans. Successive regimes in the country misused emergency powers to suppress political dissent.
As for the youth, they lost their sense of hope for the future. They became prey to unscrupulous forces who exploited their disenchantment to wreak vengeance against the ruling elites. Youth were both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations. On the other hand, they became the abusers. They were the major participants in the war. Many were children at the time of their recruitment and others joined voluntarily in protest against the social and political ills of the country or in the name of defending their communities. Unfortunately, they lost their youth to a corner of fighting and violence.
The commission commenced it primary findings with the conclusion that the conflict and the independence period preceding it, represented the most shameful years of Sierra Leone. These periods reflected an extraordinary failure of leadership on the part of those involved in Government, public life and civil society. No enlightened and visionary leaders engaged to steer the country away from the slide into chaos and bloody civil war.

CAUSES OF THE CONFLICT

Key themes highlighted by the commission were the pervasive corruption and the dire failings in governance that characterised all the regimes of the pre-conflict years. These factors produced the conditions that made Sierra Leone ripe for violent conflict.

THE MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT

In the Pre-conflict, the innumerable failings in governance caused Sierra Leonean activists to seek alternative outlets for expression of their dissent and dissatisfaction with the one-party system.

• A description of the factors that led to the outbreak of hostilities is followed by a detailed accounting of the conflict itself, divided into three distinct phases. Phase 1 (Conventional target Warfare: 1991-1993) covers the early period defined by inter-factional fighting and the capture of territory. Phase 2 (Guerrilla Warfare: 1994 -1997) describes the shifts in tactics as attacks spread-out through the country. Phase 3 (Power struggles and peace Efforts: 1997-2000) reviews various military and political alliances, moves towards peace and the resumption of hostilities, before the conflict was finally declared over in 2002. Although each phase assumed a slightly different character, they all shared one devastating characteristic: gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all warring factions.

• In the late 1980s, a small group of would-be revolutionaries formed a nascent programme for change, which included the idea of undertaking self-defence training in Libya. The original revolutionary programme never materialised in the form it was intended to take. It was supplanted by a deviant, militant agenda spearheaded by Foday Sankoh, who elicited support from foreign contacts, notable Charles Taylor, and conceived a plan to organise and lead an armed insurgency into Sierra Leone. Sankoh assembled and trained in Liberia a force comprising 385 commandos, who became the vanguards of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Taylor authorised nearly 2,000 of his own men from the National Patriotic of Liberia (NPFL) to become Special Forces and operate jointly with the RUF in Sierra Leone. Shortly after dawn on 23rd March 1991, a band of fighters from Taylor’s NPFL struck the town of Bomaru, Kailahun District. This attack sparked a conflict that was unprecedented in its intensity and nature.

• Phase 1 describes the initial war on two fronts and the inclusion of civilian settlements within the scope of NFPL and RUF assaults. It assesses the role of the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) and the APC government’s failure to properly address it at the outset of the conflict, which contributed to the April 1992 coup by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). It explains how an expanded Army then gained ascendancy over a divided insurgent force in 1993, reducing the RUF to a confined area of forest territory on the Liberian border. Nevertheless, there came no decisive trust from pro-government forces to end the conflict.

REF;
TRC REPORT
SL CIVIL WAR DOCUMENTARIES
JOE A D ALIE HISTORY OF SL