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

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  • MUTSUJI Shoji
    Faculty of Humanities and International Studies, Yokohama City University

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  • シエラレオネ内戦の経緯と課題 1991-2001
  • シエラレオネ ナイセン ノ ケイイ ト カダイ 1991 2001

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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.

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