The people of Sierra Leone will go to the polls in July, hoping the election will be a step towards a lasting peace and all the benefits that brings. Robert McKee reports
Sitting on the veranda of his half-built beach-front guesthouse, Paul Davies wipes the sweat from his brow and presses an ice-cold beer against his forehead as a means of temporary respite from the unrelenting heat. As the frost-coated bottle quickly warms under the West African sun, Davies admits the heat in his country is rising in more ways than one. Letting out a deep sigh, he lowers his head and in a subdued voice confides that he is a worried man.
‘I’m already making plans to get my wife and children out,’ he says. ‘The situation here is not as stable as many think. Nothing has changed since the end of the war, the youth still have no jobs and if things don’t improve I believe that fighting could erupt again. But at the same time I can’t leave. I love my country and I see huge potential here.’
Think of Sierra Leone and the first things that probably come to mind are war, poverty and diamonds. In times of turmoil, the plight of the tiny country has been occasionally documented, but often under-reported. Recently the movie Blood Diamond underlined the connection between the precious stones that are a symbol of love and devotion in the West and a brutal civil war. Sierra Leone did suffer terribly, but today the story is about opportunity. Natural resources will fire the economic machine. Sierra Leoneans will be able to create wealth if they can make decisions based on logic as opposed to choosing emotion and, in turn, violence on 28 July – the day set for presidential and parliamentary elections.
The world’s media has seen a recent upsurge in interest in Sierra Leone with stories focusing in particular on the diamond mining industry and its consequences. While no one can deny the impact diamonds and other extractive industries have had on the country, there are countless other profitable avenues waiting to be explored by local entrepreneurs such as Davies. He returned to his homeland intent on investing and contributing to the growth of his nation after being fortunate enough to receive tertiary education abroad.
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I can’t do NGO development work for much longer,’ he says. ‘I’m 50 years old. I’d like to open my guesthouse, buy a boat and cater to Western tourists while living out my so-called golden years. Everything is built – all that’s needed are the finishing touches, but I’m worried that I’ll put the money in only to see my investment damaged on Election Day.’
Nowhere in Sierra Leone are there more possibilities for revenue generation through tourism than in the most southeastern tip of the country. The village of Sulima is a remote but beautiful seaside community that is home to 11km of white sand beach that leads into pristine-looking Atlantic waters teeming with fish. The rest of the country appears to have forgotten Sulima and the village has returned the compliment. Residents have all but abandoned any connection to Sierra Leone. They speak in a Liberian dialect, buy and sell goods with Liberian currency and make phone calls using Liberian cellular networks.
Sulima was hit hard during the war. It lay close to two airstrips that were used by the now-infamous Revolutionary United Front (RUF) as resupply points for arms and ammunition. With the cessation of hostilities came a return to a way tourist who wants to learn about where his or her ancestors originally came from.’
But Adams also understands the size of the task facing a country where memories of conflict are painfully fresh and whose infrastructure is all too often non-existent. ‘If we are going to be successful at building a functioning tourism industry, then we need to improve the country’s transportation system drastically,’ he says. ‘We can’t expect people who want a vacation to put up with these roads and the problems associated with them.’
He does not believe that the July election will result in the sort of violence that could scare away travellers for years. ‘This country has gone through so much and people are tired of war. People want stability; people want to continue on the path that we are already moving down.’
Critics say that President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah’s choice of timing for the election is a deliberate attempt to make it more difficult for people to get to the polls. The July election comes at the peak of the rainy season – meaning voters may well have to queue in pouring rain, not to mention walk for mile upon sodden mile to reach a polling station if they live in rural areas. Sporadic power, water shortages, terrible roads and ongoing allegations of corruption have many angry at the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). There is an overall feeling that much more should have been accomplished since the end of the war regarding improvements to the meagre infrastructure that still exists in this country of approximately 5 million people, especially considering the fact that the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), Sierra Leone’s largest bilateral development partner, has allocated £131m ($259m) to direct government budget support during the past four years.
The people’s frustration is compounded by a faster pace of development in neighbouring Liberia, a country whose conflict started before and ended after Sierra Leone’s. Functioning streetlights recently returned to parts of Liberia’s capital city, Monrovia. Freetown, on the other hand, becomes a place of darkness after sunset. Most roads in Sierra Leone are pot-holed dirt tracks that are impassable without a 4×4, whereas across the border in Liberia many routes are paved, smooth and clearly marked.
Back in Sulima, I meet up with several young ex-combatants to talk about their hopes and expectations for the future. ‘War is bad but when we were fighting we definitely had more,’ one of them says. ‘Right now I can’t make enough money to buy my own fishing net, let alone a boat to support myself. This is Africa – it’s not a question of whether there will be violence before, during or after the elections, it’s more a question of how bad the violence gets. We will only put up with no jobs for so long. If I have to go back to the gun to feed myself, I will.’
BLOOD DIAMONDS
The practice of trading in blood diamonds (diamonds mined in conflict zones and sold to finance warfare) began in the early 1990s during Angola’s civil war but was quickly copied by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone with assistance from Liberian warlord Charles Taylor. Rebel Armies in the democratic republic of Congo (DRC) then followed suit.
GROWTH AREA
As much as 15 per cent of the world’s $10bn annual rough diamond production fell into the category of conflict diamonds in the late 1990s. These conflicts caused the deaths of thousands of people, the destruction of health and education infrastructure and the reversal of development.
UNCLEAN LAUNDRY
Diamonds have played a major part in money laundering. In Africa diamonds have been used to hide and export profit and capital and are often used as an alternative to hard currency to finance imports in weak economies. Corrupt and predatory governments in Angola, DRC and Sierra Leone drove the diamond business even further underground.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SIERRA LEONE
1462 The first contact with Europeans comes with the arrival of Portuguese navigators who called the area Sierra Lyoa (Lion mountains), later modified to Sierra Leone.
1787 Three hundred ex-slaves, who gained freedom by fighting for Britain during the American war of Independence, arrive and settle at what is now the capital city, Freetown.
1961 Sierra Leone gains independence.
1992 Army Captain Valentine Strasser ousts President Joseph Momoh in a military coup, just months after the country voted in a referendum to create a multiparty system. International pressure forces the army to plan for the first multiparty elections since 1967.
1996 Elections organised by the military junta that toppled Strasser result in victory for Ahmed Tejan Kabbah’s Sierra Leone People’s Party.
1997 Military coup deposes President Kabbah, constitution is suspended, demonstrations are banned and political parties are abolished. Kabbah flees to Guinea to mobilise international support. The Commonwealth suspends Sierra Leone. The UN Security Council imposes sanctions, barring the supply of arms and petroleum products.
1998 Nigerian-led West African intervention force Ecomog storms Freetown. Kabbah is returned to power.
1999 Rebels seize parts of Freetown from Ecomog. After weeks of bitter fighting they are driven out, leaving behind a devastated city. A ceasefire is greeted with cautious optimism. Six weeks of talks in the Togolese capital, Lome, result in a peace agreement, under which rebel leaders receive posts in government and assurances they will not be prosecuted for war crimes. UN troops arrive to police the peace agreement – but rebel leaders say they are not welcome. Meanwhile, Ecomog troops are attacked outside Freetown.
2000 UN forces come under attack in the east of the country. The UN agrees to pursue rebels through an international tribunal after 11 British troops are captured by a militia group.
2002 Peaceful elections are held with 80 per cent voter turnout. Kabbah is re-elected as president giving the country its best chance at peace since the late 1960s.
