Major+Recent+Issues

Andrew

__ Major-Recent issues of Sierra Leone __

Thesis: After The R.U.F signs the Lomé Peace Accord, the land they gained was used to fund the war for as long as money was made. __ The Decade Long War (Civil War in Sierra Leone) __


 * Began on March 23, 1991
 * Declared over on January 18, 2002
 * 50,000 Dead, countless others left homeless or without family.
 * Main forces in the civil war were the R.U.F and the S.L.A.
 * R.U.F- Revolutionary United Front
 * S.L.A- Sierra Leone Army
 * The S.L.A fights the R.U.F back but in the process another military Coup is created making the A.F.R.C (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council) the new government in Sierra Leone.
 * Johnny Paul Koroma, the new leader in government, declares the war “over”
 * In another attempt to bring peace to the country, the Lomé Peace Accord was created to end the warring.
 * The R.U.F takes control over a majority of Southern and Eastern Sierra Leone’s diamond reserves because of the Lomé Peace Accord and continue the war.

__ Diamond Conflict __


 * R.U.F’s control over the diamond reserves gave them enough money to keep the war funded for as long as they kept them because of the Conflict Diamonds.
 * Conflict Diamonds- diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, or invading army's war efforts.
 * The R.U.F traded the diamonds with Guinea,Libya, and also to the S.L.A.
 * To keep control over the mining districts, the R.U.F got rid of many people who lived in the area who were not their workers.
 * Before the R.U.F forced people to work in the mines the National Diamond Mining Corporation ,DIMINCO (Sierra Leone government and DeBeers) the were forced to work for cheap wages.
 * The money from the mining operations never went to the average citizens, that resentment towards the government and to the low wages they earned created the R.U.F in a way.

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