Connecting the dots – poverty, marginality, and the production of aggression and violence in post-war Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT

A good collection of existing literature provides limited reflection on classifying post-conflict countries as being ‘peaceful’. This is especially so, as the period following the end of a civil war is normally characterised, as a period of ‘peace’, thereby equating peace to the silence of the guns. Such an understanding of what constitutes peace in post-conflict settings is problematic. This is because, societies in transition, are usually plagued with a plethora of challenges, with the legacies of war normally shaping the resurgence of violence in other forms. Additionally, complex transitions of violence and aggression, which reflect the socio-economic and political gyrations of a society redefining itself, and reconstructing its values are seen in most post-conflict contexts. Thus, using the case of Sierra Leone, this paper argues that some post-conflict settings experience negative peace, and diverse forms of violence that usually render communities unsafe, insecure and not peaceful. Thus, boxing societies in a bracket of being peaceful, because of the end of a violent civil war, limits what peace means in a specific contextual sense. It even undermines the potential for a broader approach towards understanding how the emerging forms of violence and aggression could be addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• Conflict
• aggression
• violence
• marginality
• poverty

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Shaw and Young, ‘Varieties of Post-Civil War Violence’, 227.

2. Galtung, ‘Violence, Peace, and Peace Research’, 168.

3. Allen and Andersen ‘Aggression and Violence: Definitions and Distinctions’, 2.

4. Shaw and Young, ‘Varieties of Post-Civil War Violence’.

5. Bara et al., ‘Civil War Recurrence and Postwar Violence’.

6. Lawrence, ‘Forging a Peaceable Kingdom’, 557.

7. Heckeret al., ‘The Cycle of Violence’, 452.

8. Kleinfield and Muggah, ‘No War, No Peace’.

9. Ibid., 27.

10. Bangura, ‘Youth-Led Social Movements and Peacebuilding in Africa’.

11. Based on interviews conducted for this study.

12. Stevens, ‘What Life Has Taught Me’.

13. Mbawa, ‘Local Governance and Ethnicity’. 145.

14. The first coup against Stevens took place on the day he was to be sworn in as Prime Minister after winning the 1967 elections. He was sent to exile in Guinea until 1968, when he was returned by soldiers loyal to him.

15. Mbawa, ‘Local Governance and Ethnicity’, 145.

16. Foray’s interview with Newsway, 4, 1998: 12.

17. Koroma, ‘Sierra Leone: The Agony of a Nation’.

18. Kandeh, ‘Ransoming the State’, 359.

19. Koroma, ‘Sierra Leone: The Agony of a Nation’.

20. Special Court for Sierra Leone, ‘Opening Statement of the Prosecutor against the RUF’, 1.

21. Abduallah, ‘Bush Path to Destruction’, 222.

22. Based on interviews conducted during the study.

23. See: Coulter, ‘Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers’; Hoffman, ‘The War Machines’.

24. Brett & Specht, ‘Young Soldiers: Why they Choose to Fight’; Bangura, ‘A Critical Assessment of the Socio-Economic Reintegration Process of Ex-Combatants in Sierra Leone’.

25. Interview conducted on 11 February 2022.

26. Lahai, ‘Gendered Battlefields’, 7–9.

27. Abduallah, ‘Bush Path to Destruction’, 226.

28. Keen, ‘Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone’; ‘Since I am a Dog’.

29. ‘A Critical Assessment of the Socio-Economic Reintegration Process of Ex-Combatants in Sierra Leone’.

30. Mbawa, ‘Ex-Combatants and Reintegration Experiences in Post-War Sierra Leone’.

31. Bangura, ‘We Can’t Eat Peace’.

32. Newnham et al., Youth Mental Health after Civil War’. 116.

33. See: https://www.afro.who.int/media-centre/statements-commentaries/statement-end-ebola-outbreak-sierra-leone. (Accessed on 14 January, 2024).

34. See: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sierra-leone/ (Accessed on 14 January, 2024).

35. See: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40926187 (Accessed on 14 January, 2024).

36. Bangura, ‘We Can’t Eat Peace’.

37. Shaw and Young, ‘Varieties of Post-Civil War Violence’.

38. Interview conducted on 10 February, 2022.

39. Youth regarded as street boys, and usually involved in petty crimes.

40. Abdullah, ‘Marginal Youths or Outlaws?’ 37.

41. Office of National Security, ‘Youth and Violence in Sierra Leone’, 24–25.

42. Ibid.

43. See: https://cocorioko.net/musician-boss-laj-is-still-being-held-by-the-sierra-leone-police-amidst-public-condemnation/ (Accessed on 20 March, 2024).

44. See: https://awokonewspaper.sl/sierra-leone-news-govt-bans-student-union-activities-at-usl/ (Accessed on 8 May, 2022).

45. Interview conducted on 15 February, 2022.

46. Bangura, ‘Trapped in Violence and Uncertainty’.

47. See: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sierra-leones-main-opposition-party-demands-rerun-general-election-2023-07-01/ (Accessed on 26 July, 2023).

48. See: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jun/28/woman-killed-at-opposition-party-hq-during-sierra-leone-elections (Accessed on 26 July, 2023).

49. Jefferson et al., The Role of the Police and Security Services’. 13.

50. See: https://www.africaportal.org/publications/fear-political-violence-soars-sierra-leone/ (Accessed on 8 May, 2020).

51. See: https://www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/opposition-apc-and-government-of-sierra-leone-agree-post-election-conflict-resolution/ (Accessed on 11 January, 2024).

52. See the document of the ‘Agreement for National Unity’, from the Mediated Dialogue between the Government of Sierra Leone and the All Peoples Congress Party (16–18 October, 2023), at the Bintumani Hotel, in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

53. See: https://sierraexpressmedia.com/?p= 88755#/text=In%202020per cent2C%20Rainbo%20Initiative%2C%20recorded,a%20100percent2Dyear%20old%20woman. (Accessed on 6 April, 2022).

54. Sierra Leone Police, ‘Crime Statistics 2020. Freetown’. 4.

55. See: https://daffae.xyz/rainbo/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Rainbo-Initiative-Strategic-Plan-2020–2024.pdf (Accessed on 23 April, 2022).

56. 2023 data provided by Rainbo.

57. Based on interview conducted for this study.

58. Interview conducted on 3 March, 2022.

59. Interview conducted on 11 April, 2022.

60. National Commission for Children. ‘A Study on Children and Violence in Sierra Leone’.

61. Based on interviews conducted for this study.

62. See: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/sep/13/its-like-smoking-poison-sierra-leones-youth-battle-addiction-to-a-mystery-drug (Accessed on 20 March, 2024).

63. Interview conducted in Freetown on 18 March, 2024.

64. See: https://sierraloaded.sl/news/ndlea-combat-drug-epidemic-government-support/ (Accessed on 20 March, 2024).

65. See: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68742694 (Accessed on 19 April, 2024).

66. See: https://www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/government-of-sierra-leone-says-26-november-was-an-attempted-coup/ (Accessed on 11 January, 2024).

67. See: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/3/sierra-leone-charges-ex-leader-koromas-guard-11-others-over-failed-coup#:~:text=Sierra%20Leone’s%20ex%2DPresident%20Ernest,the%20capital%20Freetown%20has%20said. (Accessed on 11 January, 2024).

68. Based on interviews conducted for this study in January, 2024.

69. See: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/11/calm-returns-to-sierra-leone-as-protest-death-toll-rises (Accessed on 10 October, 2022).

70. See: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL5N2CH495/ (Accessed on 19 March, 2024).

71. See: https://cocorioko.net/riot-in-timbo-fishing-village/ (Accessed on 19 March 2024).

72. Interviewed conducted in Freetown on 18 March, 2024.

73. Interview conducted in Freetown on 14 April, 2022.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ibrahim Bangura

Ibrahim Bangura is a lecturer in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He is also a senior partner of Transition International, a firm in the Netherlands. He recently edited the book Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants (Routledge 2023).