June 2001

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

War and the Need for Citizen Action: Voices from Sierra Leone

Sierra Leonean journalist Claudia Anthony came to Germany in April 2000 shortly after receiving the Human Rights Watch Hellman-Hammett Journalism Award in Freetown, the capital of her West African country. She currently lives in Berlin, sponsored by the world organization of writers PEN while working on a book on her experiences and the case of Sierra Leone, plagued by a rebel war since March 1991. Anna Gyorgy, author/activist in the anti-nuclear movement, 1975-1982, and a co-founder of the eco-feminist Women & Life on Earth in 1979, is currently living in Germany and working on a Women & Life on Earth international network project. Contact: <info-en@womenandlife.org> Claudia Anthony and Anna Gyorgy spoke recently in Berlin.

Anna Gyorgy: Tell us about covering the war...

Claudia Anthony: My office was in Freetown, but I lived in Waterloo, some 18 miles east of the capital. Now and then throughout the war, Waterloo happened to be a combat zone. Living there, I was able to access invaluable information. For instance, I once witnessed a huge population migrating, and knew for sure that something had gone terribly wrong. In such a situation, I interviewed the fleeing people, moved to those areas from where they fled. One had to take risks.

AG: What are the main causes of this 10-year-old internal war?

CA: A lot of factors, I think. For several decades, the political leadership was very greedy in distributing the wealth of the country and setting priorities right. In the process, a lot of people were prevented from access to education and from acquiring the basic necessities of life. At the same time, a culture of violence was institutionalized, a problem which is deep-seated in Sierra Leone today. Like the greedy, incompetent political leaders, revenge, violence, and the seeds of poverty had always been there. These were enough ignition for a war.

Claudia Anthony. Photo: Freedom Forum, European Centre, UK

A typical example of institutionalized revenge is evident in the numerous Commissions of Enquiry set up by succeeding Governments, which were employed to exonerate party members and friends while implicating opposition figures and foes. From another perspective, the detained RUF leader Foday Sankoh was imprisoned by the APC government because of alleged involvement in a coup plot. As a revenge strategy for his imprisonment, he declared a war which was certainly not about equal rights, justice, clean water, or education, as he claimed.

[Revolutionary United Front (RUF), rebels began a vicious guerilla war against the APC (All Peoples Congress, a 'united' single party that ruled Sierra Leone unopposed for two decades until a junior officers' coup in April 1992) on the Liberian border of Sierra Leone in March 1991. The RUF has raped girls and women, hacked off people's limbs, kidnapped children, and perpetrated other abuses during its 10-year insurgency. Recently, the rebels--whom Liberia is accused of backing--have come under increasing pressure to sue for peace. "Government and RUF officials were due to meet in Freetown to set a timetable for implementation of Sierra Leone's disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration programme, according to a May 2 agreement of the warring parties and representatives of the UN and the Economic Community of West African States." --from the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, 15 May 2001. For more information see: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN]

AG: No, his movement has destroyed all that. What has the effect been on women? We know that most of the refugees are women. Women, children, and old people seem to be the real victims in this war.

CA: Every time the politicians sign what they call a peace accord or peace agreement, they forget the question of women. As recently as 1996 women were invited to Abidjan to be part of the peace process, but only after the press hammered on the point that women had been left behind despite the instrumental role they played and continue to play in bringing peace to the country. This was a positive step in recognition of the fact that women are the main victims and also contribute immensely in pushing the peace process forward. We have had quite a number of women's peace groups, but I think more has to done in terms of recognizing the role of women.

AG: At a conference on conflict resolution and peace-making in Africa, you concluded that there should be a mediation process in Sierra Leone. Is this really possible?

CA: It is one of many possibilities. The mediation process in Sierra Leone has been on the wrong footing. A lot of those people who called themselves mediators in the past merely enflamed the conflict situation. Added to that, the conflicting parties have been dishonest with one another, resulting in a lack of mutual trust. However, mediation can be forced upon any of the parties and can even proceed with one or more parties abstaining. Later on, when parties realize that the process is on course and they have reason to believe in it, they will become part of the mediation process.

AG: New regulations help identify 'blood diamonds,' sold to fund conflicts, and prevent their uncontrolled sale.

CA: This school of ethical diamonds appeals to me. But the fact is that it is hardly applicable on the ground. Warring factions still mine diamonds and do business with their partners, the cycle continues (ask Angola's UNITA). Attention should focus on a universal commitment to free diamond-rich areas from illegal mining. Then one can talk about ethical diamonds.

AG: When you say the rebels should be forced out of the diamond areas, this raises the question who should enforce peace?

CA: The UN would not be the best, but it would be a beginning on the road to peace. On the issue of deployment, the question of the use of force comes up. Governments are entrusted with the responsibility to protect the political one-ness and secure stability in their countries and the sub-region. Therefore in a situation when one or more parties refuse to adhere to a peace process, peace has to be enforced. The UN team is on a peace-keeping mission. But there is no peace to keep. What is needed is a peace-enforcing mission. And Sierra Leoneans must make up their minds to discuss relevant issues that were swept under the carpet since independence; it is they that are the best peacekeepers.

AG: There was a process after the accords for demobilization and disarmament...

CA: The program is on course, though not effectively. A lot of former fighters gave up many old hunters' guns, in order to qualify for a $300 cash resettlement allowance. That was the initial stage of the DDR program: Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration. In the reintegration exercise, ex-combatants are screened and absorbed by the national army or given opportunity to train in diverse trades.

Whether the DDR will be successful or not is hard for me to say. There are traditional ills in the army such as the chit system, whereby politicians had a personal quota which was used to recruit family members and friends. This brings to mind the question of loyalty. Over the past decade, the military demonstrated an insatiable thirst for power, and such a phenomenon is a threat to democracy. These are issues that must be addressed.

AG: So many children were forced to become soldiers. When I left Sierra Leone in 1994, there was one project to school them and try and counter this horrible programming of violence and drugs.

CA: If you are referring to the one based at the Waterloo Airfield, it was overrun by one or other group of fighting forces, which led most of the children back to the bush again to fight. There are other programs around the country assisting former child combatants to live a normal life.

At St. Michael's Lodge (a former tourist beach complex) at Lakka, there were over a thousand children between seven and sixteen. They told specifics surrounding how they carried out some of the worst atrocities and it gave me nightmares. Sometimes I thought: "Will they ever be children again?" Some of them responded to trauma therapies, but having interviewed so many of them, I think that the memory of the atrocities they committed will always revisit them. The trauma of war...

As for myself, I realized on a balcony in Hamburg that I couldn't stand the noise from large planes, but I did not find my fear strange. I reckoned that the 1997-1999 fight for control of Freetown between the AFRC junta and the Government was taking its toll on me, once again.

AG: Do you feel safe in Germany?

CA: When I don't hear too much noise! (laughs)

AG: The information most people get on Africa is minimal and depressing . How can organizations in the north get more information and demonstrate solidarity through action?

CA: Northern Governments should have understood by now that their support to African governments has been counter-productive. Increased focus and support should go to civil society groups, because financial independence of these groups is essential to enhance meaningful societal change.

AG: Who's to judge which NGOs are really doing good work on the ground?

CA: The civil society movement itself. With the right resources and team, relevant data could be collected, stored, and utilized. One has to build up one's information network and be specific about one's terrain and goals.

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