by Alpha Jalloh, Sierra Leone, 9 October 1997
THEME = VIOLENCE
The Catholic Education Office, headed by Father Brima Koroma, has temporarily ceased operating, due to the closure of schools and colleges in the country. The Archbishop of the Catholic diocese of Freetown and Bo, Joseph Henry Garida, has suspended his pastoral activities and gone abroad.
Children Associated With The War (CAW), is a Catholic organisation engaged in the rehabilitation of child combatants. It, too, has been adversely affected in its operations. Many of the children cared for by CAW, had become drug addicts and had developed violent tendencies while serving in the army or the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel militia. CAW provided them with psychiatric treatment and rehabilitated them back into society. That is to say, until 25 May this year, when the army overthrew the democratically erected government of Ahmad Rejan Kabbah. The following day, Major Johnny Paul Koroma became Head of State. Most of the former child combatants were returned to the army. There are many of them in the RUF, (now known as the Peoples' Army) which is jointly ruling Sierra Leone with the National Army. (On seizing power, the army had invited the RUF, to join them). The child soldiers, aged anything between eight and fifteen, are now seen roaming about the streets carrying sophisticated weapons.
The West African Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) has been striving to restore the authority of the fallen President Kabbah. With all the fighting around Freetown and ECOMOG's bombing raids on what are described as "military targets", there has been a mass exodus of people to neighbouring countries.
So what is it like, living in Sierra Leone? Things have come to a standstill. The country is presently in the grip of hyper- inflation. Offices and commercial banks (with the exception of the state-owned Sierra Leone Commercial Bank), are closed.
The UN-imposed sanctions are biting hard. But the junta appears unperturbed, as they are hell-bent on hanging on to power. People living further inland, are now breathing a sigh of relief, as the RUF rebels have ceased fighting there. The south, on the other hand, is ravaged by a new war. The Kamajor militia formed by the ousted government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, are fighting the junta, vowing to reinstate him. One of the leaders of the RUF, Lt.Sam Bockarie says: "We will defend the Head of State, Major Koroma, at all costs". Indeed, Sierra Leone is counting the cost.
END