A Long Way Gone: Sierra Leone Background

1
A Long Way Gone Sierra Leone Background
Write the information in GREEN!
2
Interview with Ishmael Beah

• https//www.youtube.com/watch?v5K4yhPSQEzo
• What is ONE interesting or important thing Beah
  has to say?
• What are your first impressions of Beah and his
  story?

3
Sierra Leone Profile

• Full Name Republic of Sierra Leone
• Population 5.7 million (2009)
• Capital Freetown
• Major Languages English, Krio, and various
  African languages.
• Major Religions Islam and Christianity
• Monetary Unit Leone
• Major Exports Diamonds, Rutile, Cocoa, Coffee,
  and Fish

4
History of Sierra Leone

• ? Sierra Leone Name means Lion Mountains
• 1462 Portuguese explorers arrive in Sierra
  Leone, which was also already occupied by several
  African tribes that had migrated to the area.
• 1500s-1700s Traders stopped in Sierra Leone to
  exchange cloth and metal goods for ivory, timber,
  and slaves.
• Abolitionists later help slaves return to
  Africa in what is now the Province of Freedom
  or Freetown in Sierra Leone. They came to be
  called Krio.

5
History of Sierra Leone
Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinque)

• ? 1808 Sierra Leone became a British crown
  colony
• 1839 Slaves aboard the Amistad revolt to secure
  their freedom. Their leader is Sengbe Pieh
  (Joseph Cinque), a young Mende from Sierra Leone.
• 1951 A constitution is enacted by the British to
  begin the process of decolonization (or when a
  colony becomes self-governing)
• April 27, 1961 Sierra Leone becomes independent
  with Sir Milton Margai as its first prime
  minister.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vKP0hwVVUTac

Sir Milton Margai
6
History of Sierra Leone

• 1971 Sierra Leone was declared a republic, and
  Siaka Stevens became executive president.
• 1978 Sierra Leone became a one-party state with
  the All Peoples Congress as the sole legal
  party.
• 1985 Stevens retired and appointed Major General
  Joseph Saidu Momoh the next president. Momohs
  APC rule was marked by increased abuse of power.

Siaka Stevens
7
Civil War in Sierra Leone

• March 1991 The Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
  began attacking villages in eastern Sierra Leone.
  
• Goal To rid the country of the APC
  government
• Rebel leader Foday Sankoh
• April 1992 The National Provisional Ruling
  Council (NPRC) was established, but it proved to
  be as ineffective as the APC at repelling the
  RUF.
• 1995 The RUF held much of the countryside in
  their control.

8
Civil War in Sierra Leone

• 1996-2000 Sierra Leone tries various campaigns
  to stop the RUF, including signing a peace deal
  in 1996 that unraveled in 1997.
• 1999 The United Nations finally became involved
  in the effort to disarm the rebels
• 2001 A second peace agreement was signed that
  allowed disarmament to begin as the government
  regained authority in rebel-held areas.
• January 2002 President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
  (elected in 1996) declared the civil war
  officially over.

9
Recovery in Sierra Leone

• 50,000 killed 500,000 displaced
• 2002 British troops left Sierra Leone
• and President Kabbah is reelected.
• ? Summer 2002 A Sierra Leone Special Court
  begins holding a series of war crimes trials that
  lasted until 2006.
• 2003 Rebel leader Foday Sankoh died.
• Many child soldiers, like Ishmael Beah, also had
  to begin a personal healing process to restore
  their sense of humanity and to forgive
  themselves.

10
Ishmael Beah

• At 15, UNICEF removed Beah from fighting and
  helped him begin rehabilitating.
• In 1998 he moved to the U.S. and finished high
  school. He graduated from Oberlin College in
  2004.
• He is a member of the Human Rights Watch
  Childrens Rights Division Advisory Committee and
  speaks on behalf of children affected by war.
• He began the Ishmael Beah Foundation to help
  former child soldiers.

11
The Diamond Trade in Sierra Leone

• During the civil war in Sierra Leone, people who
  purchased diamonds in the West unknowingly funded
  the mission of Foday Sankoh and the RUF
• These diamonds came to be known as blood
  diamonds or conflict diamonds
• These diamonds were specifically mined in war
  zones of Africa to fund the invading armys
  efforts.
• Liberia would trade weapons and training to
  Sierra Leone in exchange of their diamonds.

12
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme

• Created in 2002 to control the flow blood
  diamonds.
• A Kimberley Certification must be presented by a
  gems owner before it can leave the country.
• This forces the government to keep track of the
  diamonds they are importing and exporting and
  their value.

13
Blood Diamonds in the U.S.

• Executive Order 13194 ( Jan 2001) and 13213 (May
  2001) specifically ban the importation of rough
  diamonds from Sierra Leone and Liberia.
• Clean Diamond Trade Act (2003) U.S. recognizes
  that as a major consumer of diamonds, it has a
  responsibility to severe its ties to any diamond
  trade that funds war and conflict.
• This was crucial to the success of the KPCS.