"The problem of Sierra Leone is not poverty,” said Bishop Joseph C. Humper of the United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone—although Sierra Leone does have the distinction of being the poorest country in the world as a result of its nine-year rebel war. “The problem is bad management.” Bishop Humper spoke at the Church Center for the United Nations at a briefing that was cosponsored by the General Board of Global Ministries and the World Conference on Religion and Peace. Humper shared the briefing with a Muslim cleric from Sierra Leone, Alhaji Usman Nurudin Sahid Jah, who agreed with the bishop’s assessment of the situation.

United Methodist Bishop Joseph C. Humper of Sierra Leone.

“This is not a religious war. This is not a regional war. This is not a tribal war,” Alhaji Jah insisted. “This is an economic war. And it is waged by Charles Taylor in Liberia to steal the diamonds of Sierra Leone and plunge its people deeper and deeper into abject poverty.”       “If it is a war to liberate the people of Sierra Leone, as the rebels would like us to believe, then why are 95 percent of the people whom the rebels are killing the very people the rebels say they are trying to liberate?” asked Bishop Humper.

Since 1991, three military coups in Sierra Leone have ousted sitting presidents. In 1997, the latest military coup removed the democratically elected president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. The coup was met with widespread international condemnation. Armed intervention by Nigerian forces under the banner of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) restored Kabbah as president in 1998. In retaliation, rebel forces of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) mounted a deadly counteroffensive that killed thousands of people and left many more maimed and wounded. Stories of men, women, and children who were mutilated or killed are well documented. Both the bishop and the alhaji were forced to flee at times, with hundreds of thousands of other refugees. But both returned to continue the struggle for peace. The Interreligious Council      “One of our greatest treasures in Sierra Leone is that people of different religious faiths do get along with each other and work together for the development of the country,” said Jah. One of the major organizations working for peace in the West African country is the Interreligious Council of Sierra Leone, a chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. Bishop Humper is the president of the Interreligious Council and Alhaji Jah is a member of its Council of Presidents. The Interreligious Council represents 19 of the major Christian denominations in Sierra Leone, including the Roman Catholic Church, and the nine major Muslim organizations in the country. “When we speak,” noted Humper, “we speak for all of Sierra Leone.”       The Interreligious Council asks for peace. In light of the ruthless massacres that occurred after the presidency was restored, President Kabbah was reluctant to meet with the rebels on any terms. But leaders of the Interreligious Council encouraged Kabbah to reconsider. At the same time, religious organizations began to reach out to the RUF members, offering food and humanitarian aid. Because so many religious bodies were involved, their representatives could safely go unarmed into the rebel strongholds. The rebels, too, were people of Sierra Leone, and the religious organizations would not abandon them. Support for the Interreligious Council came from the World Conference on Religion and Peace and from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

Eventually, President Kabbah did meet with the rebel leaders in Lomé, Togo, after the Interreligious Council convinced him to release the RUF leader from prison to attend the meeting. The peace brokered by the Lomé agreement has been fragile and infringed upon by the RUF, but it has formed the foundation for a cessation of hostilities. “Conflict Diamonds”

Alhaji Usman Nurudin Sahid Jah and Bishop Joseph C. Humper with Patrick Hayford, assistant of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The Interreligious Council has also worked to find a solution to the problem of the illegal diamond trade that fuels the conflict. Interreligious Council leaders met with Charles Taylor, the chief rebel leader in Liberia’s civil war and now president of Liberia. The meeting was made possible with the help of the United Methodist Church in Liberia. Though Taylor denied any involvement in Sierra Leone, Liberia has been exporting far more diamonds than it produces, according to The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds, and Security, published by the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies in Canada. Legitimate diamond companies have been buying the “conflict diamonds”—or, as Bishop Humper describes them, “blood diamonds.”       The Interreligious Council has asked the United Nations to put pressure on the diamond companies to stop illegal activities by banning the sale of conflict diamonds worldwide. In addition, after the signing of the Lomé Peace Agreement, the UN Security Council established the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to assist in the implementation of disarmament. UNAMSIL is an international peacekeeping force.       On November 10, 2000, a new cease-fire agreement was reached in Abuja, Nigeria, between the Sierra Leonean government and the RUF, brokered by ECOWAS. The RUF agreed to a cease-fire and the immediate return of all weapons and ammunition previously seized. When asked about the new agreement, Bishop Humper and Alhaji Jah expressed guarded optimism. The RUF doesn't have a very good record for keeping agreements, but the Abuja agreement was backed up with the arrival of British Marines in Freetown.       “Politicians alone cannot bring peace,” said Bishop Humper. “Peace must be worked out hand in hand with the religious community. The people want peace. With the help of the religious community and the United Nations, it will come. But the time to act is now, before the quest for diamonds topples other West African countries. The United Nations cannot allow this to happen.”       “Most of all, right now, we need your prayers,” said Alhaji Jah. “You cannot know how much they help us in Sierra Leone.” Christie R. House is the Associate Editor of New World Outlook. The Seal of Him Who Died Text and photographs copyright 2001 by New World Outlook: The Mission Magazine of The United Methodist Church. Used by Permission. Visit New World Outlook Online at http://gbgm-umc.org/nwo/. For reprint permission, contact New World Outlook by E-mail at nwo@gbgm-umc.org.