Civil War in Sierra Leone

Civil war, cause, effect and impact on a Sierra Leonean by Chris Greene

The West African country of Sierra Leone is by all standards a small country with a population of 5.2 million with annual growth rate of 2.6 percent. The country, located along the coast covers an area of 72,000 square kilometers and shares common borders with the Republic of Guinea to the north and north–east and the Republic of Liberia on the south–east. The country is ranked among the poorest in the world according to the UNDP Human Development Indexes of 2001 – 2002. The country is also divided into four administrative regions including the Greater Freetown Region (Western Area), and twelve provincial districts. Ethnicity is diverse while the dominant ethnic groups are Mende and Temne. Krio is the dominant local dialect in the country.

Causes of the war

Sierra Leone experienced a civil war between 1991 and 2001 with devastating consequences that assumed a band wagon pattern in which one thing led to another, leaving the people of the country to gather the pieces. The war erupted on March 23rd 1991 as a spillover from Charles Taylor's NPFL war in neighboring Liberia. Although the reasons adduced for war were hinged on corruption, bad governance, deprivation, systematic dismantling of democratic institutions, social injustice and a culture of impunity in plundering state resources, the pattern of its progress was indicative of greed and the desire of a few people to wreck the country for their own sakes. However, high unemployment among youths, lack of opportunities for the vast majority of the population, slow economic growth provided the ready factors for the spread of atrocities when the NPFL rebels entered the country. Even then, the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans never supported the cause for was. War was imposed on the people for personal gains, particularly to deplete the mineral resources of the country for personal gain of the war lords.

Consequences

The pattern of...