ABSTRACT
The post-colonial state is taken as starting point to examine the political background of the Sierra Leonean conflict. This background is necessary to comprehend why amputation is understood as a political outcome and the 3 campaigns of amputation. A background analysis also reveals associations in Sierra Leonean culture between amputation and labour, theft and terror. Lastly, the links between politics and violence are also indispensable to understand how policies led to the creation of impairment and disability in the experience of displacement, camp life and medical care. This illustrates how the political sphere is linked to violence and still forms the everyday. When the APC came into power with Siaka Stevens, their political identity was tied to ethnic and class identity as Temne northerners. The APC rightly believed that the northern provinces had been neglected by colonialism and post-colonialism.
