The Process and Prospects of Civil War in Sierra Leone, 1991-2001

Bibliographic Data

ID20148352
AuthorsShoji MUTSUJI (Yokohama City University, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume2002
Issue60
Pages139-149
Publication date2002-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0065-4140 • E-ISSN: 1884-5533
PublisherJapan Association for African Studies (PUBLISHER • JP)
DOI10.11619/africa1964.2002.139
OpenAlexW2048806674
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

The process of civil war in Sierra Leone was complicated. This was mainly due to the changing alignment of local players committed to the war, and the bewildering changes of administrations. Almost all the administrations lacked sufficient capability in conflict management and depended on many players: private security corporations, traditional militias and so on. They fulfilled the function of a regular army but took a passive attitude toward negotiations with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). They were not under the control of any administration and their political influence grew. Similarly, the RUF's attitude toward negotiation tended to split into two factions; leader and follower. When the former accepted a negotiation, the latter refused it partly because RUF was a group lacking clear ideas and with loose ties. It was inability of the leaders of both sides to control their troops that caused the long-term continuity of the war. On the other hand, Nigeria, which had initially taken a hard line with the RUF, changed to a softer approach because of its own financial and domestic political motives. As a result, international mediation efforts through monitoring and controlling the export of diamonds and the import of weapons played a important role in saving the situation. However, although the end of war declaration was announced in January 2002, several factors which initited the war remain and the situation does not warrant optimism. In partialar, the ‘shadow state’, the unfair distribution of resources attached to political corruption, and ‘rural isolation’, a peripheral miserable situation, lacking daily necessities and public services, have not resolved sufficiently

Development economics · Economics · Mediation · Negotiation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Shadow (psychology) · Sierra leone · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · African Studies and Geopolitics · Law · Psychology

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