The Civil War in Sierra Leone

The Civil War in Sierra Leone

On May 25, 1997, the democratically elected government in Sierra Leone was overthrown by a coalition of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The President fled to Guinea after his exile, and the civil war turned so cruel it's sickening.

Many, if not close to all civilians in this conflict are hostages in their own nation. There is seemingly an eternal power struggle between these two factions, and they fight for control over natural resources, namely the diamond mines.

Children are conscripted or enlisted at ages as young as 15, rarely 13. Though this is typically for the "war effort", similar to The Congo a lot of children are put to work in mines in order to weed out the diamonds and jewels, which big named companies will continue to buy over in the United States & Canada, further fueling the blood lust in the country.

Above all, foreign countries must cease buying blood diamonds. Contractors and business owners should be actively looking at where their goods are being imported from and should not be accepting any diamond shipments from Sierra Leone as it continues to add to the flames of civil war. Unbeknownst to them, companies and buyers are causing only more unrest and a winning chance for the warring factions in Sierra Leone, with very little support going to the good guys (being the United Kingdom in war effort against the rebels).


The British Forces in Sierra Leone do all they can to quell the rebellion, even if it is next to impossible at this point. Although little progress is made, the AFP in Sierra Leone often keep the pressure on the two factions, causing trouble for them whenever possible and liberating children as they can. Evidently however, this is nowhere near close to being enough

SOURCE
Dago, J. (2001). Civil War in Sierra Leone. Retrieved June 09, 2017, from http://www.alexiafoundation.org/stories/civil-war-in-sierra-leone

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Children Worldwide: Today

Image
Child labor is thought of as something that was only in the past. Unfortunately, nothing at all could be further than the truth. This blog exposes exploited children wherever they are, and while it surely does not net every case, it does shine some light on some of the more dire and extreme ones. There are children who grow up with strong belief that wielding a gun and shooting at foreign aid is a childhood worth going through.  There are children who grow up with callouses on their skin, ash in their lungs and worms in their blood because they have to endure terrible, deadly and unsafe working conditions. It's an ugly truth, and unfortunately it is everywhere. This blog details the issues at hand and makes suggestions in order for us to brainstorm and see just what could be done to save both the children and the exploited worker... If at all possible.
Read more

How Big-named brands are harming Developing Countries

Image
In places such as China and India, factory production and good production are huge contributors to the economy However, more often than not, the companies that contract these goods to be made care little for where they come from, and how they are made. It's often that these factories use child workers in their staff, often in dangerous conditions deemed unacceptable by industry standards. Governments in first world countries encourage businesses to either better manage who they are contracting or to stop contracting in general for the sake of the exploited workers. And it is not merely just children that are exploited; normal workers who actually need the job are exploited just as much as the children are. Unfair wages, unsafe working conditions and overly long hours are all common abhorrences in the disparity of worker exploitation. These countries absolutely need 1st world countries and organizations to buy their product. This is how economies grow and cities are made, ...
Read more

The "Democracy" of The Congo

Image
The Democratic People's Republic of The Congo or the DRC for short is a country located in Central Africa. During the first and second Congo civil conflicts, all participating sides and armies used children as part of their infantry. These children were labelled as what were called, "Kadogos", which is a Swahili term meaning, "little ones". For as long as most can remember child soldiers have been active in The Congo for years ever since the springing of civil conflict and war in the country. It's estimated that there were over 30,000 children in The Congo that had been a part or were currently a part of some sort of army or infantry squadron. Children are cheap, children are expendable, children are clever and they are often as useful as they are small. Although the truth is unfortunate, the fact is that children have many uses and are used for much more than simple child labor or military conscription. From the rifle to the blood diamond, children ...
Read more