Sierra Leone. (Areas of Conflict).

Early in 1991, Liberian guerrillas joined with dissidents within Sierra Leone to capture several towns near the Liberian border; the threat was met with military aid from Guinea and Nigeria. A new constitution providing for a multiparty system was adopted.

In April 1992, a military coup placed Captain Valentine Strasser in charge. Capt. Strasser's government reduced street crime (which was so bad that the United Nations listed Sierra Leone as the world's worst place to live in 1992) and lowered inflation from 115% to 15%. Strasser, who at age 25 became one of the world's youngest heads of state, was criticized for restricting freedom of the press, executing political enemies, and the civil war. In 1994, he endorsed a multi-party democracy.

Civilian rule finally returned to Sierra Leone in March 1996. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah won the country's first multi-party election and was sworn in as president. He faced a daunting task. A rebel army calling itself the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) had been fighting a war since 1991; a war which had taken the lives of 50,000, almost all of them civilians. The rebels appeared to be little more than bandits who were dressing up their savagery as a revolution. Observers say the country's corrupt and inept army behaved in the same way as the rebels.

However, in December 1996 a peace agreement, brokered by Ivory Coast, was signed between the rebels and the government. In May 1997, the army staged a coup under the leadership of Major Johnny Paul Koroma. President Kabbah fled the country. Nigerian troops attacked the rebel soldiers in an attempt to restore Mr. Kabbah to power. After much bloodshed, a peace was patched together in October 1997 and President Kabbah returned. But, the fighting was a long way from over. The rebels fought their way back into contention for power. By mid-January 1999, they were threatening to seize the capital of Freetown. Six months later, yet another peace was cobbled together. The rebels won a complete pardon for the thousands of horrible crimes committed during the eight years of civil war. The government won a promise that the rebels would lay down their arms.

Rebel leader Foday Sankoh was given a high government post through which he had control of the country's valuable diamond mines. The illegal sale of diamonds generated the money needed for the rebels to sustain their war. In fact, it was control of the diamond wealth that was behind the civil war.

United Nations peacekeepers, numbering 11,000, tried to monitor the peace. But, in December 1999, The Economist reported that outside urban areas gangs were still robbing and killing travellers.

By May 2000, Sierra Leone had plunged back into civil war. Revolutionary United Front (RUF) fighters launched repeated attacks on UN peacekeepers. Several of the peacekeepers were killed and many more taken hostage.

The United Nations force, UNAMSIL, is poorly equipped and supported; no major Western powers are taking part. British troops are in Sierra Leone but only to protect British nationals and to help with their evacuation. The rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, disappeared shortly after the renewed fighting began. After about ten days he was captured and handed over to the Sierra Leone government. The rebels have demanded his release.

Estimates of total conflict deaths range from 20,000 to over 50,000. In addition, some 30,000 civilians, including children, have had limbs hacked off by the rebels.

Websites

BBC Special Reports on Sierra Leone - http:// news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/africa/2000/ sierra_leone/default.stm

Conciliation Resources - http://www.c-r.org/cr/ sierra.htm

Cry Freetown - http://www.cryfreetown.org/

Sierra Leone Web - http://www.Sierra-Leone.org