Sierra Leone: Transition to Peace (CRS Report for Congress)
Premium Purchase PDF for $24.95 (48 pages)
add to cart or
subscribe for unlimited access
Pro Premium subscribers have free access to our full library of CRS reports.
Subscribe today, or
request a demo to learn more.
| Release Date |
May 15, 2002 |
| Report Number |
RL31062 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Nicolas Cook, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
On May 14, 2002, Sierra Leoneans voted in the first national elections to be held since 1996,
following an extensive, United Nations (U.N.)-assisted poll preparation process. The election
followed the successful completion of a U.N.-sponsored national disarmament process in January
2002, when government, U.N., and RUF officials formally declared an end to Sierra Leone's
decade-old conflict. Initial poll results indicated that President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, the incumbent,
would win the election, but he reportedly garnered less than 20 % of the military vote. A special
court of mixed international and national legal jurisdiction is being created to try those held most
responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the conflict. It is expected to
try former RUF leader Foday Sankoh.
Beginning in 1991, successive governments of Sierra Leone, a small West African country with
significant mineral resources but a poorly developed economy, were besieged by the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF), a guerrilla group-cum-political party that claims a radical-populist political
agenda. The conflict originated, in part, from the growth of systemic government corruption in the
decades after independence in 1961, leading to a severe deterioration of state governing capacity. It
was also driven by contention over the control of state and natural resources, particularly diamonds.
Regional insecurity and external interference in the conflict -- notably by the Liberian government,
with which the RUF reportedly traded diamonds for arms and other assistance -- also contributed to
its persistence. During the war, the RUF and other factions forcibly recruited children as fighters and
used extreme violence against civilians, in some cases to control diamond resources.
The end of the conflict resulted from the revitalization of the 1999 Lomé Peace Accord,
which
had broken down. RUF leadership changes and a cease-fire agreement in 2000 were followed by
conflict resolution meetings between government, RUF, and U.N. officials. A renewed program of
disarmament and reintegration resulted, and implementation of portions of the 1999 Lomé
Peace
Accords resumed. The accords, negotiated with the active support of the Clinton Administration,
were signed in July 1999 in Lomé, Togo. Their viability was called into doubt soon after the
signing.
Severe human rights abuses and other accord violations by the RUF and other factions mounted,
culminating, during the first half of 2000, in hostage taking and armed attacks on U.N. peacekeepers.
The U.N. Peacekeeping Operation in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was established by the U.N. Security
Council in late 1999. Its size, the strength of its mandate, and the duration and focus of its mission
have been augmented several times. It was recently tasked with providing electoral support.
The United States has funded the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Sierra Leone since the
start of the conflict. In the mid- to late-1990s, it funded security assistance in support of the elected
government of Sierra Leone. U.S. policy has emphasized political support for conflict resolution
mediation, continued U.N. multi-sectoral assistance to the government and people of Sierra Leone,
and the imposition of U.N. trade, travel, and other sanctions on the RUF and its domestic and
international allies, particularly the Liberian government.
