In 11 years (1991-2002), approximately 50,000 people died during Sierra Leone’s civil war, with millions more displaced as refugees to neighboring countries. The war began as former army corporal Foday Sankoh led the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) against President Momoh and began capturing towns on the border of Liberia. As the war escalated, the RUF became notorious for the recruitment of child soldiers as well as raping and torturing residents of villages along the war path.
The protracted civil war in Sierra Leone has left an indelible scar on the country in every way and has led to the broken infrastructure that contributes to Sierra Leone’s status at the bottom of WHO and UNICEF rankings of health indicators. The poor health of the population is the impetus for A Chance for Every Child’s work in improving healthcare and health education available to residents of rural areas of Sierra Leone. Villages throughout the country were dismantled and pillaged as the RUF waged war.
Last week, three former leaders of the RUF were found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the war. For the first time in a war crimes trial, the Special Court (convened with support from 40 countries, with Canada, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the UK, and the US providing the majority of the funds) included “forced marriage” as a separate charge from other forms of sexual violence.
Lead prosecutor Stephen Rapp said, “Our position is that sexual slavery is a horrendous crime. Victims would be held for days or weeks and forced into sex acts. Forced marriage is all that plus essentially being consorts to the rebels.” As a result, women are often stigmatized, being seen as a part of the RUF. Many families do not accept the women back into their families.
Sentencing for those rebel leaders found guilty will begin in the next few weeks. Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, is currently on trial for crimes in The Hague (click here for all minutes of this trial). Some Sierra Leoneans feel that the Special Court rulings have given them a sense of closure. “I like the Special Court. … If you don’t [have a] Special Court to bring punishment, other men will just bring war again,” said Alpha Tommy Conteh, whose wife was killed in Freetown in 1999. (full story)
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