Sierra Leone is celebrating this Tuesday the 30th anniversary of the civil war that erupted on March 23, 1991. A painful date for this country that has seen 120,000 people disappear in a conflict triggered by the rebels from the RUF, the revolutionary UN front.
Thirty years later, women, men and children, victims of clashes between armed factions and government forces, bear witness to this period and their shattered lives, hard to rebuild.
In the village of Bomaru, east of the country, Vandy Gbosso Kallon, traditional chief, still remembers the day the war started. It was March 23, 1991. “The rebels burned down all our houses, looted everything and tortured me. We have suffered a lot. It was only our faith that kept us going. ”
Clashes between rebels from the revolutionary UN front and government forces have led to the displacement of thousands and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Kumba Pessima, a bereaved mother, testifies. “My two sons aged 7 and 17 were captured by the RUF rebels … Even today I still have no news from them.”
In the city where the war won the capital Freetown on January 6, 1999, Mohamed Sargo Saccoh, a teacher, also talks about a separation. “We were in the town of Bo when the war broke out. My mother had traveled to Kono to visit my uncle, so the war overtook her. She had to flee to Guinea on foot. She stayed there for ten years and recently returned. She found her youngest son an adult. ”
These families, crushed by the conflict, and who lost sight of each other, had to learn to live together again. An opportunity that many did not have.
And while peace has returned since 2002, some Sierra Leoneans fear that the factors that provoked the conflict are still relevant.
When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission completed its report in 2004, it listed some of the causes of the war: corruption, injustice, lack of human rights in society, poverty and a very low level. Education or even no education in some cases, but also the fact that there was no good distribution of natural resources. So I asked the women here if these causes had disappeared after the war? They replied, “no, no, no, … in fact they came back”.
Patrick Fatomah, residual coordinator for Sierra Leone
Preserve memory
The special court based in Freetown today aims to preserve the memory of the Civil War. The first court set up at the crime scene itself is now being partially converted into a museum.
Pictures of mutilated bodies, statues of fighters, photos of unfulfilled peace agreements lie along the walls and spaces of the former special court, which has now been transformed into a museum. “As soon as you enter the Peace Museum, we want the public to know why this place exists,” said Patrick Fatomah, Special Residual Court Coordinator for Sierra Leone.
“From 1991 to 2002, our nation suffered one of the most terrible wars. A war that we have inflicted on ourselves. The Peace Museum is a place of memory where we learn to participate and build a Sierra Leone where peace would be sustainable. ”
A memorial service honored by civil society associations in a country where monuments are lacking. Sulaiman Jabati from the organization of the Coalition for Justice and Accountability will now move on. “The government was to establish March 23 as a national day of remembrance. March 23 is the day when everything changes. ”
The Peace Museum is trying to fill this gap. With support: opening to the public of an archive space that is currently closed due to the health crisis. At the end of the year, a memorial garden will also be inaugurated in tribute to the victims.
