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Home  >  Resources  >  Truth Commissions  >  Africa  >  Sierra Leone
Last modified on: 02.04.2012

Truth And Reconciliation Commission Of Sierra Leone

History

Founded in 1789 as a British colony, Sierra Leone achieved independence in 1961.The following years, due to corruption in the government and an acute economic crisis, the internal situation in Sierra Leone became very quickly unstable. These tensions grew into a civil war when the Liberian warlord and then leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), Charles Taylor, brought its military support to a group of dissident Sierra Leoneans. On 23 March 1991 the Liberian Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh and backed by Charles Taylor, attacked villages in East Sierra Leone and controlled after one month the largest part of the Eastern Province. Through this incursion Taylor wanted to hit back at the Freetown government for having allowed Nigerian fighter planes to use its airport to launch bombing missions under the led of ECOMOG (Military Observer Group of the Economic Community of West African States) fighting since 1990 against the NPFL who initiated the Liberian civil war. In April 1992, President Momohs’ government was overthrown by a group of rebellious army officers, who, under the leadership of Captain Valentine Strasser, formed the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) and ruled the country for the next four years. Meanwhile, the RUF occupied much of the rural areas and was at the doorsteps of Freetown. With the help of Gurkhas (Asian auxiliaries of the British army) and mercenaries the government succeeded however in 1995 to drive the RUF back to the borders of Sierra Leone. In January 1996 a coup replaced Strasser as NRPC chairman through Brigadier-General Julius Maada Bio who held presidential elections in February. Although the new president Ahmed Tejam Kabbah managed to establish a cease fire with the RUF, the rebel terror attacks continued.

On 25 May 1997 elements of the Sierra Leone Army overthrew the Kabbah government and established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Under the leadership of General Johnny Paul Koroma the new government invited the RUF to form a government alliance with the AFRC. To respond to this military government, the United Nations imposed a petrol and arms embargo and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sent in its forces and managed to drive the rebels out of Freetown and to reinstall Kabbah at the beginning of 1998.

In July 1999 the Lome Peace Agreements was signed by President Kabbah and Foday Sankoh and provided for a general immunity against prosecution. The UNOMIL, a United Nations peace keeping mission, established in July 1998 to monitor the military and security situation and the disarmament of former combatants, was replaced in October 1999, through a larger peacekeeping operation, the UNAMSIL. Its mission was to supervise the implementation of the Lome Peace Agreement in regards to disarmament. Some months after the start of the mission (5 May 2000), 500 peacekeepers were taken hostage by the RUF (released on May 25). After these attacks, backed by significant reactions of the Sierra Leone civil society and the international community, the government of Sierra Leone requested the UN Security Council  to authorize the creation of a special court to prosecute those responsible for the atrocities committed in Sierra Leone since 1991 (Resolution 1315, 14 August 2000). Meanwhile, the UN imposed in July 2000 an embargo on the sale of rough Sierra Leonean diamonds and in Mars 2001 sanctions on Liberia for supporting the rebels (Resolution 1343, 7 March 2001). Mid January 2002, after the surrender of some 45000 demobilized RUF rebels, Kamajor militias and armed gangs, UNAMSIL commander General Daniel Opande (14 January 2002) and President Kabbah (18 January) officially declared the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone. At the same time, on 16 January 2002 the Government of Sierra Leone and the UN sign an agreement to establish the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in order to "try those who bear greatest responsibility" for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 (Abidjan agreement) during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

After several prolongations of its mandate the UNAMSIL finally terminated its mission in December 2005.  At present, the SCSL is still running. So far nine of the eleven people indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law are in custody of the SCSL. In July 2007 two of them, Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu, were sentenced to 50 years in jail (for more details: Special Court for Sierra Leone and Trial Watch).

During the 10 years of civil war 2.5 million people, nearly a third of the population, were made refugees or were internally displaced, 100.000 to 200.000 were killed and some thousands were deliberately mutilated in order to prevent them from working. Moreover, boys and girls were kidnapped and used respectively as child soldiers or sexual slaves.

 

Mandate

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Sierra Leone is an initiative, agreed upon by the conflicting parties during the 1999 Lome Peace Agreement. It was decided that the TRC should be established within 90 days after the signing of the agreement. However, it took until 2002 to finally establish the TRC through an act of Parliament voted in February 2000 (TRC Act 2000).

 

The first purpose of the TRC was to produce an impartial and historical report on human rights and international humanitarian law violations in relation with the armed conflict in Sierra Leone, from the beginning of the conflict in 1991 to the signing of the Lome Peace Agreement. Its mandate includes investigating the causes, the nature and the extent of gross human rights violations and abuses as well as determining whether such violations were the result of deliberate planning, policy or authorization by any government, group or individual. The second purpose of the commission is to respond to the needs of victims, to promote healing and reconciliation and to prevent a repetition of the violations and abuses suffered. Special attention shall be paid to the subject of sexual abuse and to the experience of children within the armed conflict.

In order to achieve those objectives the mandate of the TRC includes the power to make recommendations on necessary reforms and other measures, whether legal, political or administrative.

 

Composition

The TRC functions upon a model similar to the one that existed in South Africa. It is composed of a committee of representatives of the civil society who listens and registers the testimonies. The commission is a mixed one, which means that it is composed of four national commissioners originating from Sierra Leone and of three non-nationals. To ensure the transparency and independence of the Commission, the selection of the four national commissioners is coordinated by the United-Nations Secretary-General’s Representative and the selection of the three non nationals by the high commissioner of human rights and the special representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone.

 

Operations

In Mai 2002 the TRC started to recruit its staff and to establish its office of secretary. The sensitization phase of its program was concluded in October 2002. From 4 December to 20 December 2002 took place the first part of the testimonies-taking phase and marked the real beginning of the commissions’ work. During this period of time, over 50 statement-takers have been deployed throughout the country to collect a total of 1371 testimonies. A second part of the statement-taking phase lasted from the beginning of February 2003 until 31 Mars 2003. President Kabbah launched the most important part of the commissions’ work on 14 April 2003. Hearings of the victims, witnesses and perpetrators were held around the country until the 18 July 2003. The young age of the victims led the commission to hold many of its hearings in “huis clos” and to collaborate with the Child Protection Agency Network. A first evaluation of these elements allowed the Commission to bring out information on more than 3000 victims.

Given that the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) and the TRC are working at the same time and towards the same goal, the question of how they cooperate with each other has critical importance. Potential areas of tension or of cooperation include for example the share of information, the treatment of specific cases and the share of resources.

 

Report

Although the report was supposed to be submitted in October 2003 the final version was only presented to the United Nations one year later. The final version is accompanied by a special children version as well as a video and consists of 5000 witnesses, twelve chapters and over 5000 pages. It analyzes the following subjects: the historical context, governance, political and military history, the nature of the conflict, the impact of natural resources on the conflict, women, children, youth, relations between the commission and the tribunal, reconciliation, reparation and the national vision of the country. Among others the report recommended that the government pays compensations to the dismembered, the survivors of sexual violence, the widows and displaced children. The report considers that government help in the area of health, accommodation, pensions, education and micro-credits would help to restore the dignity of victims. To reconcile the population it is necessary to restore relations amongst crime authors and victims. The commission underlines that it is a long term procedure that includes effective responsibility for the committed crimes, recognition of the crimes, establishment of the truth and reparation. Moreover the report gives some information on the dissatisfaction of the commission concerning the cooperation between the commission and the special court. It criticizes for example the courts’ decision not to let its detainees testify in front of the TRC and the absence of a clear line of distinction between the two organs which entails the risk of confusion between the spirits concerning the respective roles of the Special Court and the TRC.

 

Postcript

The government of Sierra Leone is required by the TRC Act 2000 to implement the recommendations in a faithful and timely manner. However, according to some critics as well as some human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Witness, Campaign for Good Governance the government of Sierra Leone has shown so far only little sign of commitment to its legal obligations. It responded to the final report only eight months after its publication through a brief twelve page white Paper that was condemned by civil society groups as inadequate. Many of the recommendations of the commission in regards to political reforms, the promotion of good governance and the fight against corruption were either ignored or rejected by the government. Although the recommendations concerning reparations for victims were accepted in principle it took the government two years after the release of the report before it decided to establish the Special Fund for War Victims.  Even though some progress has been made in the area of education, skills training and medical services to victims the most important recommendations for establishing a long-term peace have not been taken care off by the government so far.

 

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