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Sierra  Leone  is  well  endowed  with  solid  mineral  resources  such  as diamond, titanium ore , bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromate . Her  name  tells  her  beauty. Indeed  the oldest modern state in West Africa with a constitution dating back to 1787. She was  once regarded  as  African  oasis and  a  harbour of  refugees  from  different  part  of  the   world.
But  for  ten  years now  she  has  been a dangerous  place for  both  her citizens and  foreigners  except  for   the   lords  of  her  solid  mineral  resources  who  scramble  and partition over  these  resources.
The  war  in  Sierra  Leone  has put  to death  thousands of  civilians, hundreds  have  their hands and legs lopped off , some abducted   and many made  homeless.
It has  caused  great  trauma to many Sierra  Leoneans since one is forced  to take  part  in a war one never  knew the cause. One is forcefully separated from  ones  family ;many especially children have been commanded to a stimulant to the inhuman acts .Rape and  kidnapping turned to be a way of life; this make many Sierra Leoneans  traumatised (Vidi: Can We  Say  Aufwiedersehen  to  Justice ).

So,  in  this  article I  will briefly  explain the genesis of this political impasse; the; who  are the  cankerworms? What is the  heart of the matter;  Why  did the  international community especially the West  gave deaf ears  to the call by  Sierra Leone, various  non  governmental  organisations  and individual  persons  for help.  How  can  a  good   politicking  be  enthroned in  Sierra Leone?

As I  said  earlier  Sierra  Leone  has  been  drawn   into  one  of the  most  bloody  war  in modern  time .The  Sierra  Leone  government is not  committed to  protecting  the  unarmed  citizens; nor finding sanguine solution to  end  this  tragic  episode ; the so called  Revolutionary  rebel  groups  have  been   disappointment  to the  people. They  are no longer  people's  army.
Genesis of the impasse
Sierra Leone dream was the same with other tropical Africa countries, a dream to be politically ,economically and culturally  independent from the British. A dream to build a country where every citizen  has equal right  to natural resources, right to owe a property. It was dream to be a black star. But all is a dream lost  because of corruption.
The immediate post-colonial from independence in 1961 to 1968 was marked by a tussle for power between the two organised political parties SLPP and APC.
In 1964 APC swept the polls in the council elections and then  show  its  credentials as a viable opposition to SLPP. This success of APC at the polls was due to its radicalism, being a trade union and working class party at a time radicalism was spreading far across the African continent; while SLPP was dominated by  the upper and middle-class professionals, and  their `traditional` allies, the paramount chiefs.
Having made a  good success in the House of Representatives APC became altogether  a different party. This signalled the beginning of the APC consolidation of power  which later in 1978  opened way to a one-party  state

There was an attempted coup d`ètat in 1970 by Brigadier John Bangura, it was followed by that of Mohammed Sorie  Forna, for which Foday  Sankoh, the future RUF leader, was jailed. The 1973 and 1977 elections witnessed series of election  malpractice; and a year later Sierra Leone  was declared a one-party state. This created an atmosphere of violence against any form of  organised opposition or dissent, and the centralisation of power in the hands of the party and the Pa, as President  Siaka Stevens was always referred to;( President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah is also being addressed by people, newspapers and radio as `Pa`). This  transformed state and by implication politics into an affair for and by APC members and supporters. The one-party politics made access to resources  impossible for non-members;( there is a revenge to this now that the SLPP controls the government, the members see the control of national resources as a sine qua non). This is a common  post-colonial disease in most  sub-Sahara Africa countries. There is always a crisis of patrimonial in who controls these mineral resources and in the appointment of government officials; this I think is  the root  cause of political instability and dictatorship in African. (video, unpublished, Emperior  Zanza  Bolingali, in Lobeda  by  JM Jones, here  corruption is personified in Mobutu Seseseko of Zaire(Congo) ). The use of country or state as a personal orchard  by African leaders especially in Sierra Leone is rooted on the frequent  amendment of constitution to fit in personal goal of the President and his ministers.

There is an element in the constitution that grants right to a President to appoint a number  citizens  to  parliament.   There are case where President has appointed  military,  police officers and paramount chiefs to parliament. This part of constitution  gives a  President an upper hand over his oppositions , through this the country went  through one party  system with little or no opposition ; men and women appointed were always used by the presidents  as sycophants and image makers.
 Why is it Unopposed
One may asked why  is this  right  given to a President? I disagree with  Mr. Patrick S Bockari of The World wide Coalition for Peace and Development in Sierra Leone that the citizens  knew  what is going on around the presidency ,but kept quiet ``as long  as that kept peace``. First  colonial era  destroyed social-political-cultural values of  Sub-Sahara. Our traditional democracy  was destroyed by the colonial masters .There is also a post-colonial  leadership problem as a result of  crash of European and African social values in which most African leaders  found and still find  themselves in; there is also over copied of what I can call  negative part  of  Machiavelian  pragmatism among African leaders ,a method  in which being an opposition  means depriving oneself of political position, human rights and right to owe property .This is a system  Siaka Steve used to perpetual himself  to power and  only  translated  it  to  General  Joseph Momoh  his political son . It  happened in Guinea and Cameroon ,and now what is going on in Zimbabwe  will also happen to Sierra Leone under Tejan Kabbah  as he is being seen by his sycophants  as the architect of   peace and protector of the so called  democracy  in Sierra Leone . It is not because  people  of  Sierra Leone kept quiet for the sake of peace but  because greater number of population failed to speak or act because they lack education . Many are not aware of this great error in the constitution because of a high level of illiteracy  which created  lack of political awareness, lack of knowledge of natural rights in Sierra Leone society. Some kept quiet  as long as they  get favour from the government ,others fear possible assassination or imprisonment. Low level of  literacy( Sierra Leone has 85% illiteracy)  contributed a lot to both economic and political manipulation by the political class. Education  was never seen  as a right of a child but  a privilege. And deprivation of education has always been used as an instrument to create a wide class distinction  in our society. Many  youths, both streets youths and students in various institutions of learning  were  and are still dissatisfied  with this existing social order.

So,  one sees  reasons for high pullout of  uneducated and  street youths from the city  shanties  to the  forest of eastern  border; from where Sierra Leone  first  experienced war in 23 March, 1991; which was  launched  from territory controlled by one of the factions fighting the  Liberia civil war. First, the reason  for the  rebellion  was to overthrow  the patrimonial rule of president Joseph  Seidu  Momoh and  the All Peoples Congress (APC). It must be said that most youths were  captured, terrorised  and forced to joined the rebel movement. First, the rebels lack strong political  concept in order to keep up dreams and to  keep off  opposition and factions as was existing  in Liberia. The armed  opposition group  leaders  avoided  recruitment of some ``bookerties`´ University  and College students many of whom  want  or were planning a non blood  socio-political revolution in Sierra Leone The rebel movement of  Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was first governed by a 21 counsels who were  soldiers or civilian supporters  Many young  men and women from all walks of life   saw  their  service  in the  RUF as laboramus pro patria. There  had  never  been  any  successful   attempt  to  suppress  the rebels  because many   Sierra Leone  soldiers  supported  rebels. Many  soldiers left  government  service in order to serve as rebels. The  reason  for  this  is  that  many  soldiers  were under paid or have never been promoted; and since  Sankoh  paid in  dollar  and gave  right to  good  soldiers  to  mine  diamond  many  soldiers  and  streets  youths  saw  reason  for  decampment. This  move  helped  RUF  dream since  these decamped  soldiers  offered both  tactical  and logistic  advice  to  the  rebels. They captured  village after village getting their living from  looting, raped and abducted  whomever they stumbled upon. This gave rise to what  I can call  new barbarism in West Africa.  Freetown  never took  RUF and  its`  campaign serious;  it became a mosquito in government  sleeping  net  when it took control  of  some  diamond  fields  the main source  of  country  revenue (op. cit ).This  affected  the bourgeois whose source of  income  has been cut  short; secondly the country economy started to cripple  since  Sierra  Leone  gem stone  is smuggled  and sold cheap  across  the country, notably in Liberia.

Influence of External Powers.
When Captain Valentine Strasser came to power his major  aim is to save the country from disintergration. His call  on the  rebels  for power  sharing  and  dialogue  was  rejected ; and  since  then  the  rebel  group  of Revolutionary United  Front  under Foday Sankoh had rejected any  dialogue  from  Freetown. This rejection is based on the ground of external influences and  support  Sankoh  has got due to his control  of  diamond  belt. The  diamond  merchant  countries  like Belgium, Ukraine and Bulgaria who exchanged weaponry and infantries for  diamond  through  their African agent countries of Liberia, Burkina-Faso, Côte d' Ivoire, Togo  and  Libya  have  boosted  the  moral  of  the rebels by frequent  supply  of  arms. There are also a huge diamond trade between some Islamic religious militias in the Mid-east and the rebel of RUF, these Islamic religious militias trade with the government through some Lebanese living in Sierra Leone. There  are  also  mercenaries  from  Spain, Ukraine and Libya  fighting on the side  of the  rebels and have  access to  the diamond  mines. It  is  reported  that  like  in Angola  some of  these  mercenaries  demand   diamond  as  a  condition  for  accepting   employment.
A British  company  Sandline -EO group  acts  as  rebels   arm   supplier  and  at  the  same  time   is  Freetown   arm  supplier, tactical and logistic  adviser and  mines   government  controls diamond   mines.(see :The  West Africa,  May, 1998.).   Kabbah  also used  mercenaries   that  Sandlines  supplies  and  by this  he  contravened  the   agreement on the U.N. Convention  Against  Mercenaries, which Sierra Leone is a signatory to.  Kabbah  started links  with Sandline , a  mining  and financial  company  when he  was in exile  in  Guinea.  Sandline  supported  Nigeria in bringing  Kabbah  back to power, and  continues  to support  Nigeria  military  operation  in Sierra  Leone  with  it's   helicopter  and  supply  pilots  for  the  Nigerian Alpha Jets and  Mi-24HIND  gun-ship. Just  like  in Congo  the  mercenaries  intervention  in  Sierra  Leone  has changed  the  course  of   the  civil war .It  is  also  a  Western  plan  to  draw  neighbouring  States  like   Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso  and the Gambia  into the Sierra Leone  civil war in  a  big  way, thus   regionalise the war  in  a  catena of the on-going  debacle  in  the  Democratic  Republic  of  Congo. This  is  because , all  these  states  have  taken sides  in  a  civil war, whose  outcome  could  have  far-reaching  consequences  on their  own   national  security  concerns.
Now  there is  a  big  border  conflict  between  Guinea  and  Liberia ; Guinea  has  asked  Sierra Leone  refugees  to  leave   her  territory  this  has  never  happened  in  west  African  sub  region. Côte d'Ivoire  used  to  be  an  African  epitome of  democracy  and  a harbour  of  peace, but  things  are  no  longer  at ease  in  Côte d'Ivoire;  she  is  now  ruled  by  a military  General  Guei who  may like to transform himself  to democratic president and  this move may create  a  serious  political  impasse   in  that  country  taking Ivoiriens` socio-political behaviour into account  which Guei  must take serious  if there would be peace.

Why is the war so bloody and fearful?
The war changed from social revolutionary to economic war because of foreign interest in the diamond  and arm sales.  As earlier stated many countries in Europe  and individual groups within Africa and  outside have interest in Sierra Leone, just as they have in Congo Kinshasa and Angola. The end of  Cold War saw Africa  as arm dumping ground   and it is a pity that  Africans  are agents to this.  When  some youths from Sea Tiger of  Freetown  informed  the Sierra Leone  police and  Ecomog  of high involvement of Liberian officials  in diamond trade with the rebels, and the rebels plan to attack  Freetown  using the creeks ,they were beating ,and  detained  and accused of  being rebel  informants.  To them the accusation is false since a head of state is involved; but recent findings by  international human rights  have pointed  Liberia as trading corridor for  Sierra Leone  diamond and   for smuggling  in  weaponry and  infantries. The  Togolese  president and the  current   chairman  of organisation  of   African   Unity (OAU)  Monsieur  Eyadèma  has  been  recently  accused  of  double  dealings;  he  is  a  big contractor  of arms  from  Asia  and   South   Africa  to both Sierra  Leone  and  Angola  rebels. Lome  is  used  as a   distributing  centre  for arms  to rebels of  Sierra  Leone  and Angola; at the same time  chaired   the  9th  July ,1999  failed  peace  accord  in  Lome  the  Togolese  capital city. Burkina  Faso  and   Libya  are not out of the  boiling pot; Burkinabes  are  known   to be  fighting  as  mercenaries in Sierra  Leone ; Foday  Sankoh   received  his  military  training , tactical  and   logistic   support   from  Libya .Diamond    is used   to  pay for  the  services  from  these  countries. It  has  been  reported   that   countries  like  Liberia and  Côte d'Ivoire  have  exported  large  amount of  gem  stone  which are  Sierra  Leone  origin.
The recent  findings  report  that  Liberia with  an  average  annual  mining  capacity  of  100,000 to 150,000 carats, but  according  to  the Hoge Raad  voor  Diamant  (HRD)  in  Antwerp  recorded  Liberian  imports  into  Belgium  of  more  than  31 million  carats  between 1994  to  1998—an  average  of  over 6 million carats a year. The  same  report  has  it    that  Côte dÌvoire  exported  an  average  of  more  than  1.5  million  carats  to  Belgium  each  year  between  1995  and  1997, even  though  Côte dÍvoire´s  small diamond  mining  industry  was  closed  in  the  mid-1980; while  the  government  of  Sierra Leone  exports  recorded  a  mere 8,500 carats  in  1998, whereas  the  HRD  registered  imports  of  770,000carats  in that  year. It  is  also  believed  that  if  De  Beers  which  purchases  by far  the  majority of  diamond  produced, should  stop  to purchase  large  amount  of  diamond  from  countries  with  a  negligible  production base , much  could  be  done  to end   the  current   high  level  of  smuggling. (see: Sierra  Leone  Diamond  and Human  Security, published. by the  Partnership Africa  Canada, and  by  Ian Smillie,  Lansana Gberie  and Ralph  Hazleton.)

It  is therefore right  to  say  that  what  is happening  in Sierra  Leone is  a  war  on  who  controls  the  diamond  mines;  and  the  west  is  not  interested  in  finding  solution  to  this  conflict  because  the  major  victims  are  the  less  privileged  in  the  society .The  conflict  makes  the west  especially  the  NATO  countries  to prosper   through low  purchase  price  of the  Sierra  Leone gem stone and  sale  of  arms  to both  the  rebels  and  the  government. The British arm sale to Sierra Leone has  increased  recently in order to keep Kabbah in power while  hundreds of children  are being killed or mutilated by both the Sierra Leone  soldiers and the rebel groups. The  high  influence  of   diamond   and  arm  industries  in  Europe may be a reason for  little  or  no   media  report   on   Sierra  Leone   at  the  conflict's  apex  in  December, 1998. That  may also be reason  that no  NATO  country  is  taking  part  in  the U:N.  peace  mission  (UNASIMIL)  in Sierra Leone. The  twelve  thousand   U.N O. peace  keeping   soldiers  in  Sierra Leone   are  drawn  from  the  Non- alien   countries --the so called  third world countries. West Africa  countries contributed  largely  to  the  UNO   peace  mission  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina, East Timor,  in the Mid -east .Africa  countries have  been known for their contribution to  world peace  by their moral and financial  support; and  substantially  contributed to the  U.N.O   military  monitoring  operation wherever  the need  arises.. U.N.O. nonchalant (non commitment)  attitude  in African  crisis  may be seen  from the  fact that  the  U.N.O  security  council  is controlled by  arms  manufacturing  countries  who see  Africa  after the end of the  Cold Wars era  as a new  area for  arms dumping.

To end  the current  political   impasse in  Sierra Leone  there is need for the participation of  the NATO countries in the  U.N.O. peace keeping  mission  in  Sierra Leone. Britain as a former colonial master should be fully involved . There is urgent need to ask  Tejah  Kabbah to step  down and a new interim government  formed, this would usher in a genuine peace; and this will  give room to an election for a truly  elected  president. Diamond  industries  especially  De Beers  should   be encouraged  to stop  purchase  of  diamond  from  countries  with  a  negligible  production  base; and close  purchasing  agencies  in  Liberia  and  Côte  d´Ivoire  until  origin  of  diamond  is  certified  so as to end the current high level of  smuggling. This measure if taken  would go a long  way  in  ending  Sierra Leone  armed conflict, its` highly  criminal, and  economy  war  fuelled  by  diamond.
 

*** The only way to stop African War brutalities is by prosecuting the perpetrators of these  crimes at the International War Crime Tribunal.