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areas, and by year-end, thousands had been murdered forces pursued AFRC/RUF groups around the
and half of the country’s nearly 5 million people dis- country.
placed. The strength of the government’s army was When nearly 50 RUF terrorists were arrested and
dwindling, and the RUF successfully continued to sentenced to death, as was leader Foday Sankoh, the
exploit many of the diamond mines. RUF undertook its most bloody endeavor to date,
By early 1995, the RUF had commandeered nearly Operation No Living Thing. They abducted, dismem-
all of the country’s economic resources and had kid- bered, and murdered thousands more in a ruthless
napped, drugged, and enlisted hundreds of young men sweep across the country. In January 1999, the
against their will. The RUF had some 4,000 members AFRC/RUF attacked Freetown again, and nearly
in its ranks, and moved within several miles of 6,000 civilians would be killed before ECOMOG
Freetown, the capitol. At this time, no one really could force them out. By May, a cease-fire was in
understood the RUF’s mission, what they stood for, or place, and by July, a peace deal had been cut between
who Foday Sankoh was. The RUF announcement, the government and the RUF, in exchange for release
“Footpaths to Democracy: Toward a New Sierra of Foday Sankoh and promotion of some rebels into
Leone,” gave people their first vague idea of the groups government ranks.
goals. U.N. peacekeeping troops arrived in November and
The government enlisted the help of Executive December to monitor the peace agreement, and by the
Outcomes (EO), a South African security firm that following April they had come under attack in the east-
had once assisted the Angolan government in its fight ern region of the country, with hundreds of them taken
with UNITA rebels. The EO troops first arrived in hostage. By May 2000, Britain sent 800 paratroopers
May 1995 and, within days, had beaten back RUF to help evacuate its citizens and rescue U.N. workers.
forces from Freetown. They regained control of the RUF leader Foday Sankoh was then recaptured.
diamond mines shortly thereafter. By March 2001, U.N. troops were deploying to
EO troops continued their assault on the RUF, and rebel-heavy areas, and the overall disarmament of
by 1996, the RUF was weakening and called for a RUF forces began in May. The new, British-trained
cease-fire. Peace talks began in Abidjan and went on Sierra Leone Army regained control of rebel territory,
for nearly a year, during which time RUF attacks con- and by January 2002, the United Nations declared
tinued. The RUF asked the newly elected president, that all 45,000 fighters had been disarmed and, fur-
Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, to expel the EO from the country ther, that the United Nations would set up a separate
in exchange for a peace agreement, and both sides war-crimes court. In March 2002, Foday Sankoh,
accepted. But in May 1997, soldiers attacked a jail in along with 40 of his RUF comrades, was charged
Freetown and released some 600 criminals and former with murder.
coup organizers, and Kabbah fled the country.
Some of those freed from the prison then formed Further Reading
the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC),
Ibrahim Abdullah. “Bush Path to Destruction: The Origin
and this group invited the RUF to join it against the
and Character of the Revolutionary United Front/Sierra
government. In the period that followed, the country Leone.” Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 36,
fell into complete chaos—banks and other govern- No. 2, 1998, 223.
ment institutions closed down, while rape, murder, Stewart, Ian. Freetown Ambush: A Reporter’s Year in
and general lawlessness brought the economy to a Africa. New York: Viking, 2002.
standstill. The Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) sent its military arm, ECOMOG—
a force comprised of thousands of soldiers from REWARDS FOR JUSTICE
Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, and Gambia—to combat the
AFRC and the RUF stronghold on Freetown. The
ECOMOG offensive pushed the AFRC/RUF front out The Rewards for Justice Program, administered by
of Freetown in a bloody battle that left many civilians the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in the U.S.
dead. President Kabbah came back to Freetown and Department of State, was created in 1984 by the U.S.
again took control of the country while ECOMOG Congress as part of the Act to Combat International