Lungi – Dozens of Sierra Leoneans held a ceremony near the capital Freetown on Tuesday to mark the 20-year anniversary of the West African state’s brutal civil war, an AFP correspondent saw.
On January 18, 2002, former president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah declared, in the town of Lungi, an end to the war that broke out in 1991.
The conflict, which was financed largely by so-called blood diamonds, saw Liberian rebels support efforts to overthrow the government and left tens of thousands of people dead. The use of child soldiers was widespread.
About 70 activists gathered in Lungi on Tuesday, in an event staged by the commemoration group the Centre for Memory and Reparations.
They marched with national flags and lit a flame for the anniversary.
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“I want Sierra Leoneans to devote 60 minutes of their day to a community service as a way of dealing with the past and healing together,” said Joseph Kaifala, founder of the group.
A diamond-rich former British colony, Sierra Leone is still trying to recover from the civil war, and is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Its economy was also ravaged by the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic.
Ishmael Charles, 38, who works for the Catholic charity Caritas in Freetown, told AFP he had been recruited as a child soldier when he was nine years old.
“Memories of the war still haunt me,” he said, adding that problems that contributed to the conflict – such as corruption and youth unemployment – were still prevalent.
“We should be worried not to repeat the same mistakes,” he warned.
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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