General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church
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To try to bring an end to the war that has devastated his country, President Alhaji Ahmad Kabbah of Sierra Leone has now offered to begin peace talks with Sierra Leone's rebels. Many countries, including Libya and Togo, have offered to host talks between jailed rebel leader Foday Sankoh and President Kabbah. While fighting continues between the West African ECOMOG forces and Sierra Leone rebels, many international organizations are backing President Kabbah's latest peace overture. For example, Refugees International, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization, has called on the international community to support Kabbah's peace initiative. According to a statement released by Refugees International, the international community should place the highest priority on supporting President Kabbah's call for a dialogue with the rebels in order to hasten the negotiation of a cease-fire and, ultimately, a peace accord. Once a cease-fire is achieved, adds Refugees International, the international community should provide resources to rebuild the civil society and reintegrate both rebels and refugees into the society. Sierra Leone's rebels, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), who have fought a bitter eight-year civil war mostly in the countryside, finally brought their armed campaign to Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, earlier this year. Citing sources within the Nigerian-led West African ECOMOG forces, several news organizations have reported that the rebels infiltrated Freetown beginning in December by disguising themselves as refugees. The RUF's assault on the capital, which began January 6th and devastated most of the city, was driven back by ECOMOG forces after several days of fighting. Reuters and the Associated Press both report that ECOMOG has won back most of the capital, but there is still fighting in the surrounding hills and the eastern part of the city.
Quoting a U.N. official, the Associated Press reports that the "rebel offensive . . . left approximately 3,000 civilians dead and created an acute need for medicine, health care, and sanitation." According to MISNA, a Catholic news agency, among those killed were two Roman Catholic nuns. This latest round of fighting has also displaced thousands of people, including Bishop Joseph Humper, head of the United Methodist Church of Sierra Leone, and Mr. Abraham Sellu, a board member of the General Board of Global Ministries. An estimated 50,000 displaced people are crammed in a soccer stadium, "short of food, vulnerable to disease," reports the Washington Post. The elected government of Sierra Leone has accused neighboring Liberia of training the RUF rebels and supplying them with weapons. The Liberian government has denied the allegations. At a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Advocacy Network for Africa, Liberia's ambassador to the United States, Rachel Diggs, reiterated her government's claim that it was not involved in the Sierra Leone conflict. She said that her government would welcome an independent investigation into the allegations made by Sierra Leone's government that Liberia was playing a role in the conflict. The Sierra Leone government has also accused Burkina Faso of providing logistical support for the rebels and has alleged that Ukrainian mercenaries have been seen fighting alongside rebel soldiers. The Revolutionary United Front, led by Foday Sankoh, has been fighting in Sierra Leone since 1991. According to BBC News Online, when the RUF rebels started their campaign, many people did not take them seriously because they appeared to be "a puppet movement, an offshoot of Liberian fighting factions," but the rebel movement "soon took on a life of its own and attracted disaffected young men from the impoverished countryside." The RUF's armed campaign has been characterized by many as savage, often targeting unarmed civilians. Several news organizations, including the Washington Post, report that the rebels sometimes chop off the hands of captured men, women, and children as a warning to those who do not support their movement. In a letter recently addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright regarding the crisis in Sierra Leone, Reynold Levy, President of the International Rescue Committee, wrote that rape, kidnapping, and burning villagers alive are just some of the methods used by the insurgents against anyone suspected of favoring the democratically elected government. Even as the government called for a cease-fire, the rebels continued their terror campaign this week by attacking Kenema, a diamond town in eastern Sierra Leone. According to Reuters, ECOMOG forces fought off the rebels' offensive, killing 40 rebels. Since Sierra Leone does not have an army, it has relied mostly on the Nigerian-led West African ECOMOG forces to defend the country against the insurgents. Last year, after a coup by military officers overthrew President Kabbah, ECOMOG forces restored him to power and the army of Sierra Leone was disbanded. Now it appears that the government of Sierra Leone, in collaboration with the Nigerian army, has begun training 5,000 soldiers as part of a new Sierra Leonean army. Quoting a Nigerian general, Reuters reports that the troops being recruited would be used to "block the Sierra Leone--Liberia border." The general added that more soldiers from other West African countries will be sent to protect Sierra Leone while the new army is being developed. Fearing that the conflict may spread to the rest of the already volatile West African region, many organizations, including the All-Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) based in Nairobi, are planning initiatives to bring peace to Sierra Leone. According to the Reverend Mulunda Nyanga, a United Methodist who is Executive Director of International Relations for the AACC, his organization is planning a meeting in April to be held in Conakry, Guinea. The meeting, says the Reverend Mulunda, will bring together all of Sierra Leone's church leaders to seek a way to end the war. February 12, 1999
News About Africa
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Photo by Ed Moultrie. All photos copyright © The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church unless otherwise noted. GBGM is the official mission agency of The United Methodist Church.
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Bishop Joseph Humper is among the thousands of displaced people.