05-03-2004, 15:25
OOC: The RP is designed ot be detailed and realistic. Before posting any actions, send an IC statement of your intentions and await permission. Also please do not join unless you have at least some background knowlgede of Sierra-Leonne and West Africa as a whole (or are prepared to a bit of research.)
The elected government of Sierra-Leone under President Kabbah is asking for help from the international community in ending the bitter war between the democratic forces and the diamond fuelled militias of the RUF. This war has ruined our national economy, devastated our people and made us one of the poorest nations in the world. As of now, the Army is losing control and the RUF is able to carry out atrocities only 40km from Freetown. We are in despereate need of assiatance and we urge that civilised nations immediately act to crack down on the guerillas and end the suffering of our people.
[signed]
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah,
Republic of Sierra-Leone
http://www.comebackalive.com/df/dplaces/sierrale/map.gif
Sierra Leone
http://www.itmb.com/map_samples/sierra_leone.gif
Freetown peninsular and area
Background:
There is still a civil war going on in Sierra Leone, in practical terms. Since 1991, the country has suffered war, terror and a deep, unrelenting humanitarian crisis which have left it devastated. The war has curbed agricultural production drastically, cut government revenues from mining and seen the destruction of hundreds of schools, health clinics, and administrative facilities. Forced displacement has effected more than half the population estimated at 4.5 million. Between 20,000 and 75,000 people have been killed and thousands mutilated. Dislocation of people, the brain drain compounded by the war, and destruction of schools have exacerbated the educational crisis in the country, which has a literacy rate of about 20 per cent.
The rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh has displayed a staggering capacity for brutality. It is well documented that the RUF is using terror tactics such as mass rape, torture and mutilation of civilians, abduction of children to become child soldiers or sex slaves and massive intimidation.
The worst of it might be that there do not seem to be other motives for this than maintaining control of the rich diamond fields of Sierra Leone. The war in Sierra Leone is being fought more over economic resources than over ideology.
RUF is the Sierra Leonean rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh. Sierra Leone academics argue that the RUF originally had a legitimate political pedigree based on student-led opposition to the repressive and corrupt one-party regime of Siaka Stevens (1968-85). Student radicals and lecturers thrown out of universities in the 1980s after a series of protest actions headed for exile in Ghana under the government of Jerry Rawlings. Led by intellectuals such as Abu Kanu and Rashid Mansaray, they travelled on to Libya for military training, where they met fighters of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), according to IRIN.
Rebel leader Sankoh initially was among those in Sierra Leone that helped recruit would-be revolutionaries. Sankoh is said to have nursed a deep grievance against Steven's All People's Party (APP). A former corporal and army photographer, he was imprisoned in 1971 for six years for his part in a failed coup. On his release, he joined radical circles, and eventually arrived in Libya. Forthright and charismatic, he reportedly made a strong impression, particularly among the young radicals, according to IRIN. In 1990, he travelled to Liberia with the NPFL/RUF and met the Liberian Charles Taylor. Taylor, as a means to destabilise Sierra Leone, thus started sponsoring the RUF.
Despite its brutal attacks on civilians, RUF claims it is a movement of the downtrodden in opposition to the country's corrupt and "tribalistic" political class. In the early days of the RUF, there was some legitimate recruitment in the southeast against the detested northern-based APP, then led by Steven's successor, Joseph Momoh. In 1990, Momoh began moves to reintroduce multiparty democracy. According to IRIN, Sankoh said in a statement in March 2000: "We seized the moment of 1991, at the height of (APP) misrule, to face the challenge of countering the nefarious plans that party had hoped to put in place to entrench itself in power.
The elected government of Sierra-Leone under President Kabbah is asking for help from the international community in ending the bitter war between the democratic forces and the diamond fuelled militias of the RUF. This war has ruined our national economy, devastated our people and made us one of the poorest nations in the world. As of now, the Army is losing control and the RUF is able to carry out atrocities only 40km from Freetown. We are in despereate need of assiatance and we urge that civilised nations immediately act to crack down on the guerillas and end the suffering of our people.
[signed]
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah,
Republic of Sierra-Leone
http://www.comebackalive.com/df/dplaces/sierrale/map.gif
Sierra Leone
http://www.itmb.com/map_samples/sierra_leone.gif
Freetown peninsular and area
Background:
There is still a civil war going on in Sierra Leone, in practical terms. Since 1991, the country has suffered war, terror and a deep, unrelenting humanitarian crisis which have left it devastated. The war has curbed agricultural production drastically, cut government revenues from mining and seen the destruction of hundreds of schools, health clinics, and administrative facilities. Forced displacement has effected more than half the population estimated at 4.5 million. Between 20,000 and 75,000 people have been killed and thousands mutilated. Dislocation of people, the brain drain compounded by the war, and destruction of schools have exacerbated the educational crisis in the country, which has a literacy rate of about 20 per cent.
The rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh has displayed a staggering capacity for brutality. It is well documented that the RUF is using terror tactics such as mass rape, torture and mutilation of civilians, abduction of children to become child soldiers or sex slaves and massive intimidation.
The worst of it might be that there do not seem to be other motives for this than maintaining control of the rich diamond fields of Sierra Leone. The war in Sierra Leone is being fought more over economic resources than over ideology.
RUF is the Sierra Leonean rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh. Sierra Leone academics argue that the RUF originally had a legitimate political pedigree based on student-led opposition to the repressive and corrupt one-party regime of Siaka Stevens (1968-85). Student radicals and lecturers thrown out of universities in the 1980s after a series of protest actions headed for exile in Ghana under the government of Jerry Rawlings. Led by intellectuals such as Abu Kanu and Rashid Mansaray, they travelled on to Libya for military training, where they met fighters of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), according to IRIN.
Rebel leader Sankoh initially was among those in Sierra Leone that helped recruit would-be revolutionaries. Sankoh is said to have nursed a deep grievance against Steven's All People's Party (APP). A former corporal and army photographer, he was imprisoned in 1971 for six years for his part in a failed coup. On his release, he joined radical circles, and eventually arrived in Libya. Forthright and charismatic, he reportedly made a strong impression, particularly among the young radicals, according to IRIN. In 1990, he travelled to Liberia with the NPFL/RUF and met the Liberian Charles Taylor. Taylor, as a means to destabilise Sierra Leone, thus started sponsoring the RUF.
Despite its brutal attacks on civilians, RUF claims it is a movement of the downtrodden in opposition to the country's corrupt and "tribalistic" political class. In the early days of the RUF, there was some legitimate recruitment in the southeast against the detested northern-based APP, then led by Steven's successor, Joseph Momoh. In 1990, Momoh began moves to reintroduce multiparty democracy. According to IRIN, Sankoh said in a statement in March 2000: "We seized the moment of 1991, at the height of (APP) misrule, to face the challenge of countering the nefarious plans that party had hoped to put in place to entrench itself in power.