Sierra Leone Rebellion

Sierra Leone is located in West Africa on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The Sierra Leone civil war that started on March 23, 1991 and ended on January 18, 2002 had two factors that contributed to the war which was the poor condition of the country and the Sierra Leone government trying to stop a rebellion. The rebellion started when the Revolution United front (RUF) lead by Foday Sankho attempted to over throw the government, which later led to a civil war. The RUF rebel army wanted to overthrow the government because of it’s affiliation with Economic Community of West African States Military Observer Group (ECOMOG). ECOMOG created an agreement that permitted Sierra Leone soldiers to work together as one with other neighboring countries.

Over 50,000 lives were lost and a lot civilians were separated from their loved ones. People believed that the president at the time was responsible for the civil war because he accepted the request to join ECOMOG. Today people blame Foday Sankho for the war because he attempted to overthrow the government by using brute force and for being the leader of RUF. The civil war ended when Britain responded to Sierra Leone’s request for help by sending soldiers to Sierra Leone in order to suppress the RUF. One result of the war was, it left the country devastated. Parents were unable to send their children to school. There was a scarcity of goods and shortage of good paying jobs in the war-torn cities. Even the capital Freetown, was no different, where the life of Laura Banya was

Laura describes that time of her childhood as the most horrific time of her life. As time went by the rebel army didn’t stop their gruesome attacks on civilians; because of the violence in the city Laura was sent to the village to live with her grandma where the violence was not as horrible. She recalls the terrifying nights in the village were she had to sleep on the brown, dirty floor rug while covering both her ears with two yellow pillows that smelled like feet that had not been wash in weeks. I asked “What were some emotional/personal things you went through during the civil war?” “I felt alone and lonely because in the village the only person I knew was my grandma. We lived in a big house filled with other families and I never interacted with them or the children in the compound”. She revealed to me how the bathroom was made up a cemented wall with green grass growing on the side and insects crawling on the wall. No toilets were present only a hole in the middle of the bathroom which was about 5cm wide. When the rebel army would storm the village expectantly, Laura and her grandma would have to run into the woods and hind behind bushes to stay away from the rebels. Laura’s best experience in the village was at night when all the families that lived in their house would get together and