INTRODUCTION
This paper is going to critically analyze the negotiation process that led to the Lomé Peace Agreement in Sierra Leone in 1999. Sierra Leone, a former British colony of ex-slaves achieves independence in 1961 (Mackenzie 2009). Immediately followed by two military coups to attain control of the state in order to justly redistribute the resources of the state. In 1991 began the 11 year civil war in Sierra Leone between the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) led by Kabbah and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
The most important negotiations that took place to restore peace were the 1996 Abidjan Accord, and the ECOWAS 1997 six month Peace Plan which laid the foundation of the Lomé agreement of 1999. The 1999 Lomé agreement involved …show more content…
Former army corporal Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF – small rebel group) begin campaigning against President Momoh, and begun capturing towns on the border with Liberia (BBC 2017). The RUF were accompanied by Liberian soldiers from the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and mercenaries from Burkina Faso. On the side of the Sierra Leone government were troop from both Nigeria and Guinean. By 1991 the RUF had controlled much of the southern diamond rich areas in Sierra Leone. In 1992 Momoh was ousted by his own government soldiers as they were unhappy by the way he was dealing with the rebels (Dupuy and Binningsbo 2008). The RUF felt threatened by this action as their main reason for existence was overthrow the All People’s Congress one-party regime and restore the multiparty democracy to their beloved Sierra Leone (Dupuy and Binningso 2008). It had become apparent to the RUF that the new government, the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) paid attention to Freetown and their own interests instead of the interests of the entire state, thus they continued to fight against the government in charge. Civil society had also come to realize that the NPRC was just as corrupt as the Monmoh government, and support for them was …show more content…
Executive Outcomes, a private South African security group, was contracted by NPRC to fight the RUF in exchange for diamond mining concessions. Although they were successful the NPRC had lost its territories outside of Freetown and in 1996 due to a military coup, the head of the party was removed from power, in order, according to the RUF - reconsolidate the power of the military regime (Dupuy and Binningsbo 2008). In November 1994 the Head of State of Sierra Leone had asked the United Nations Secretary-General to facilitate negotiations between The Government at that time and the RUF (UN 2000). In December an exploratory mission was sent into Sierra Leone which discovered a deteriorated state, infrastructure destroyed and over 40% of Sierra Leones were displaced and had become refugees. The role of the UN as mediator during the negotiations process and pre-negotiations was a large one that had ‘demanded’ the presence and role of other international organizations. As a result in 1995 a special envoy, Mr. Berhanu Dinka (Ethiopia) worked with the OAU, ECOWAS to try and negotiate and end the conflict. The negotiation process especially during a conflict period such as the civil war in Sierra Leone is often complicated and consists of compromises, some level of
This paper is going to critically analyze the negotiation process that led to the Lomé Peace Agreement in Sierra Leone in 1999. Sierra Leone, a former British colony of ex-slaves achieves independence in 1961 (Mackenzie 2009). Immediately followed by two military coups to attain control of the state in order to justly redistribute the resources of the state. In 1991 began the 11 year civil war in Sierra Leone between the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) led by Kabbah and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
The most important negotiations that took place to restore peace were the 1996 Abidjan Accord, and the ECOWAS 1997 six month Peace Plan which laid the foundation of the Lomé agreement of 1999. The 1999 Lomé agreement involved …show more content…
Former army corporal Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF – small rebel group) begin campaigning against President Momoh, and begun capturing towns on the border with Liberia (BBC 2017). The RUF were accompanied by Liberian soldiers from the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and mercenaries from Burkina Faso. On the side of the Sierra Leone government were troop from both Nigeria and Guinean. By 1991 the RUF had controlled much of the southern diamond rich areas in Sierra Leone. In 1992 Momoh was ousted by his own government soldiers as they were unhappy by the way he was dealing with the rebels (Dupuy and Binningsbo 2008). The RUF felt threatened by this action as their main reason for existence was overthrow the All People’s Congress one-party regime and restore the multiparty democracy to their beloved Sierra Leone (Dupuy and Binningso 2008). It had become apparent to the RUF that the new government, the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) paid attention to Freetown and their own interests instead of the interests of the entire state, thus they continued to fight against the government in charge. Civil society had also come to realize that the NPRC was just as corrupt as the Monmoh government, and support for them was …show more content…
Executive Outcomes, a private South African security group, was contracted by NPRC to fight the RUF in exchange for diamond mining concessions. Although they were successful the NPRC had lost its territories outside of Freetown and in 1996 due to a military coup, the head of the party was removed from power, in order, according to the RUF - reconsolidate the power of the military regime (Dupuy and Binningsbo 2008). In November 1994 the Head of State of Sierra Leone had asked the United Nations Secretary-General to facilitate negotiations between The Government at that time and the RUF (UN 2000). In December an exploratory mission was sent into Sierra Leone which discovered a deteriorated state, infrastructure destroyed and over 40% of Sierra Leones were displaced and had become refugees. The role of the UN as mediator during the negotiations process and pre-negotiations was a large one that had ‘demanded’ the presence and role of other international organizations. As a result in 1995 a special envoy, Mr. Berhanu Dinka (Ethiopia) worked with the OAU, ECOWAS to try and negotiate and end the conflict. The negotiation process especially during a conflict period such as the civil war in Sierra Leone is often complicated and consists of compromises, some level of