Sierra Leone Civil War

I previously did not know much about the Sierra Leone civil war. I know I have heard of it mentioned on occasion, but I did not know any details. I found out that it started in 1991, and last until 2012. That would be about a ten year civil war. I could not believe that it lasted so long. It made me wonder what about this war made it last for years on end.

To start, I looked a little at the background and history of Sierra Leone, to get an understanding of what it used to look like, and maybe get information on why this all happened. I found out that Sierra Leone was on the track to have a great future, some even called it the shining light of Africa. I read that it was on track to engineer economic and political prosperity, even having the first University in West Africa. With having so many great resources like the rain forest, clean water and gemstones, they were also paired with a corrupt and unstable government, which was the perfect opportunity for enemies to come and take over. The biggest cause for the war, from what I researched was all about money, power, and  what was called the blood diamonds.

The background I gathered was that the Revolutionary United Front launched a war upon Sierra Leone to overthrow the government on March 23, 1991. Sierra Leone tried to retaliate but was unsuccessful and RUF did take over the following year. Despite this win however, the RUF continued their attacks. I then read that a lot of the trouble just spilled into Sierra Leone from Liberia. From that, I gathered that the RUF promised men and young boy’s money and shelter if they joined their campaigns in Sierra Leone. These people were often drugged and performed inhuman acts such as chopping of the arms. That startled me the most, that they dragged in innocent civilians, promising them a better life if they committed such horrible acts. It makes sense to me now why I kept reading how it was a very grotesque war. I also read many times as well that there was much initiative behind the diamonds in Sierra Leone. From what I can understand, it may have started with wanting the diamonds, but overthrowing their government to get their way worked effectively as well.

To get into some of the facts of the war, it was an 11-year war, that involved the entire country, leaving over 50,000 dead. There was then a UN peacekeeping operation and British military intervention, finally ending the civil war on January 11, 2002. While I am glad there was finally a peacekeeping operation put into place to end the war, it is sad to see how far a civil war can go without anyone getting involved. Clearly Sierra Leone was struggling in the war from the get-go not having a strong government, I would not think it would take 11 years for the UN to get involved.