War In Sierra Leone/Africa

On April 27, 1961, Sierra Leone gained its independence from Britain. Between then and October 1990, a one-party Constitution was in place and there were many military coups, some successful and some not, to overthrow the government. In October 1990, a multi-party system was approved by Parliament and subsequent events began to occur that we saw in Ancestor Stones.

"A military intelligence source who has extensive experience in West Africa described the regional warriors as follows: 'These guys form part of a regional militia I call the insurgent diaspora. They float in and out of wars and operate as they wish. They have no one to tell them where, when and how to behave. They’re been incorporated into militias and armies all over the place – Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire – and are really the most dangerous tool that any government or rebel army can have.' "

The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was created with help from Liberia, a neighboring country involved in its own civil war. The main reasons war finally erupted was because of government corruption and the corruption in the diamond business; yet, the leaders of the Liberian forces who aided the RUF were paid in diamonds. At first the RUF was popular in Sierra Leone, as the people thought these rebels would stop the government corruption, however, due to the atrocities we saw in Ancestor Stones and Blood Diamond, the RUF quickly became hated and feared. From 1991 to 2002, the RUF continued to fight for control. After the RUF gained control of the diamond mines, it focused on protecting this economic resource and while the economy of Sierra Leone fell apart, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, another group of rebel soldiers, allied itself with the RUF to protect the economic and political power gained from the diamond trade. The RUF was finally defeated as a military force by an invasion led by Nigerian troops that reinstated Sierra Leone's president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

After RUF troops were evicted from the capital, it became a political party for the 2002 elections. It won 2.2% of the popular vote and no Parliamentary seats. The party then merged with the All Peoples Congress, which is one of the two major politcal parties in Sierra Leone (the other is the Sierra Leone People's Party).