ABSTRACT
Sierra Leone was devastated by the actions of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) for a lengthy ten years. The members of this gang, whose declared aim was to overthrow a thoroughly discredited All People’s Congress (APC) government, were seemingly ordinary people from the countryside, along with some semi-organized instigators. They wreaked havoc and destruction: killed peasant farmers and their families; burned whole villages; raped women; chopped off arms and legs; pillaged the countryside; looted entire communities; destroyed crops; and eliminated the country’s limited infrastructure of roads, schools, and healthcare. The result was a people living in fear, with millions having fled their homes; a nation destroyed; a society that knew only chaos, murder, and death; a legacy of destruction; and a government that was in control of only the capital city and a few surrounding areas (Abdullah 1998; Bah 2000; Bangura 2000; Kandeh 2002; PAC 2000a, 2000b; Reno 1995b, 1996, 1998a, 2000, 2001; Richards 1996; Riley 1997; Zack-Williams and Riley 1993; Zack-Williams 1990, 1997b, 1999, 2001). The tragedy was exacerbated by the famine and disease (especially AIDS, malaria, and Lassa fever) it also caused. Why this horror and devastation? And, why did this movement’s attack on the nation, its government, its elite, and its urban focus bring death and chaos to millions of ordinary citizens?
