From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#4 (April 1999), page 12

Hope prevails in Sierra Leone

Despite continuing warfare and atrocities, the people's spirit has not been broken

By Ruth Ayisi

Sheku, 17, is now thankful that his wish to be killed was not granted. Staring wistfully into space, he recounts the events of last April in his village in Kono district in the eastern province of Sierra Leone. "The rebels came at night, and rounded us up. There was a discussion about what to do with us. After a long time, they decided to strip us and cut off our limbs." He paused, and for a while, it seemed too painful for him to continue. But he did, unprompted. "After they cut off both my hands with a machete, I ran after them, begging for them to kill me. But they refused."

Some of those mutilated died from their wounds, but Sheku managed to get help from his uncle, even though his uncle did not recognize him at first. "He was frightened of me as I was naked with no hands," said Sheku, who spent the night in the bush with his uncle before being flown to the capital, Freetown, by ECOMOG, the Nigerian-led regional intervention force. Only then did he receive medical treatment.

Sheku is just one of thousands of victims of atrocities committed by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) who continue fighting ECOMOG in alliance with remnants of the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). We met him in one of the camps for displaced people in Freetown as he waited, along with some 253 other amputees, for artificial limbs. The rebels have even chopped off babies' limbs, and rounded up entire families, locking them in their homes before burning them alive.

Besides this relatively recent spate of atrocities, almost seven years of war have devastated Sierra Leone, which is otherwise rich in natural resources, including diamonds and fertile land. Already inadequate health services have largely been destroyed. Now, only 10-15 per cent of Sierra Leone's people have access to basic health care, and some 316 children out of every 1,000 die before their fifth birthday, compared to 61 in Kenya.

The country now has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, with an estimated 1,800 of every 100,000 women dying in childbirth. This nearly happened to Ms. Kadiatu Sama, whom we met sitting on her bed at a hospital in Bo, a five-hour drive south from Freetown. She had had 13 pregnancies, but only five children survived. Sama was trying to come to terms with delivering a stillborn child. She had had an obstructed delivery and, having had no prenatal care, was lucky to be alive.

The education system has also suffered, with many schools destroyed, teachers killed or displaced and perhaps some 6,000 children recruited into armed forces. Today, over 55 per cent of children aged 6-14 years are out of school.

Yet, in the midst of this misery, there are many examples of dedicated efforts by the government, UN agencies, local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to rebuild the country. For example, UNICEF is supporting the government with mass immunization campaigns in safe areas. The government has worked with local communities to chlorinate wells to prevent cholera outbreaks and other diarrhoeal diseases. International NGOs work long hours with local nurses at therapeutic feeding centres for the severely malnourished children.

Child victims of war benefit from a remarkable project run by a local NGO called Christian Brothers. With UNICEF support, the organization has reunited with their families hundreds of children separated from them during the war, or found them homes with foster parents. The children are given the chance to go back to school and to learn vocational skills. But reintegrating some of the former RUF child soldiers in their own communities has not been easy due to the atrocities they may have been forced to commit.

Some families reunited

Still, there are success stories, like that of 17-year-old Moses (whose name has been changed for his own protection), who was abducted by the rebels when he was 13 years old. Using a hot iron, the rebels branded the initials RUF on Moses' chest for trying to escape. He has now been reunited with his family. "I felt that my parents might not want me back," he said as he posed for a photograph, arm-in-arm with his parents.

"We need an end to these appalling atrocities," says Mr. Tony Bloomberg, UNICEF Representative in Sierra Leone. "And we need peace. But we are heartened by the commitment of most Sierra Leoneans. Despite this suffering, the nation's spirit has not been broken. Admirable efforts are being made daily by Sierra Leoneans to build a better future for the children."

Sheku himself is positive and determined to be part of that rebuilding process. "I have been promised artificial hands, and then I can be of use again," he said. "And I would like to return to schoolI don't have feelings of revenge. It does not serve my country. Everything is the will of God. He has taken care of me so far. I thought I would have died," he added.

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