Nearby, other men huddle near a transistor radio. Days earlier, ragtag rebels with a penchant for unspeakable violence had broken a peace pledge and attacked United Nations forces, sometimes using captured U.N. guns and possibly armored personnel carriers in an assault on Freetown. The latest news bulletin is more hopeful: pro-government forces have retaken the burned-out market town of Masiaka, 35 miles outside the capital, temporarily halting a weeklong advance. But no one is sanguine. “We are worried a lot,” says Joe Johnson, 65, as the group around the radio disperses. During an offensive against his village two years ago, rebels chopped the hands off some of Johnson’s relatives and killed others. “We don’t want the war to come even to the edge of the city. We need help quickly, even today.”
The world doesn’t have a record of prompt action in Africa. And when help does arrive, it often makes little difference. U.N. peacekeepers already have a string of unsuccessful missions on the continent, and a U.N. inquiry recently issued a highly critical report on the world’s failure to prevent the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. (To be fair, U.N. peacekeepers also have a couple of African successes, including peace in Mozambique.) Last week’s slide back toward full-scale civil war in Sierra Leone, where rebels still held about 500 peacekeepers hostage, raises questions about whether the United Nations has learned much from previously mishandled catastrophes.
Sierra Leone is also testing the much-touted commitment of wealthy democracies to help Africa at a time when the continent is beset by war on many fronts and is racked by AIDS, famine and economic collapse. Some 37,000 superbly equipped, mostly NATO, peacekeepers are stationed in Kosovo, an area slightly more than one seventh the size of Sierra Leone. But Africa doesn’t have a NATO. It’s hardly surprising that the poorly trained, ill-equipped and outnumbered Zambian, Kenyan and other peacekeepers in Sierra Leone were overcome by the rebels in recent weeks.
Diplomats, meanwhile, seem overwhelmed by Africa’s many troubles. Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, led a Security Council mission to the continent for the past two weeks, mainly to prepare for a U.N. peacekeeping operation to Congo. But he spent much of the trip dealing with other crises–an eruption of political violence in Zimbabwe, and forecasts of renewed war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Two days after Holbrooke left the African Horn, Ethiopia launched an offensive on at least two fronts. “There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the attack had been planned before we got there,” said a despairing diplomat who was along on the Holbrooke mission.
With so much going wrong in so many places, last week’s battle for Freetown took on symbolic heft. This wasn’t just a fight for a dilapidated city in a half-forgotten patch of Africa. It was in part a battle for the credibility of the United Nations. “This time, in this crisis, let us back words with deeds and mandates with the resources that will work,” an increasingly frustrated Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general, told a late-night session of the Security Council.
By last weekend the international community had begun to fight back in its patchwork way. Britain had rushed more than 700 paratroopers to its former colony and an additional 600 Royal Marines were on their way; the British helped foreigners escape and secured Lungi International Airport, freeing up pro-government forces to defend the outskirts of Freetown.
President Clinton agonizes over his administration’s failure to prevent horrors in Africa. “There is nothing in his presidency that upsets him more than Rwanda,” says an associate. Clinton promised Annan that Washington was ready to join the others in helping Sierra Leone. “He’s very, very seriously determined not to turn his back on this,” said one White House official. What that means is not clear. The United States offered to airlift peacekeepers to Sierra Leone last week, but at rates higher than those offered by commercial airlines. What the Clinton pledge does not mean, in any case, is that U.S. combat troops will be heading to Africa. The administration won’t risk a repeat of its failure in Somalia, where clan-based militiamen killed 18 U.S. soldiers in a horrific battle in 1993. Washington plans to provide logistical support, mainly for a Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force.
But that potential mission was complicated by the fact that hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers remained in rebel hands last week. Clinton sent Jesse Jackson to the region in the hope that the civil-rights leader might be able to negotiate their release. Jackson helped to broker the original, flawed ceasefire in the conflict–which critics called “peace on the cheap”–and now he’s coming back to help clean up the mess. Jackson says one of his first aims will be to find rebel leader Foday Sankoh.
To the United Nations’ embarrassment, Sankoh disappeared from his Freetown villa during a chaotic protest there last week, in which his guards killed at least four people with automatic weapons. (According to one report, Sankoh fled to Liberia, perhaps to seek help from dictator and ally Charles Taylor.) Sankoh’s house is a gutted shell, picked clean by looters. Amid the debris was a petition signed by a group of Americans “troubled to hear that the Revolutionary United Front was using child soldiers.”
The breakdown in Sierra Leone already is having an impact on other peacekeeping operations. NEWSWEEK has learned that the Security Council delegation came back from the Congo last week thinking the deployment there probably needs to be bigger than the 5,500 peacekeepers currently planned. The town of Kisangani, scene of recent fighting between erstwhile allies Rwanda and Uganda, may need a battalion with greater authority to demilitarize soldiers, said a senior U.N. diplomat. “But Congress has put a hold on our funds,” he added.
The United Nations plans to send more peacekeepers to Sierra Leone from India and Bangladesh. But on the streets of Freetown, hope is a battle-hard Nigerian with a well-oiled weapon and a willingness to use it. Nigerian forces have spent much of the past decade in Sierra Leone at the head of a West African peacekeeping force called Ecomog, and the latest outbreak of fighting began as the last of the Ecomog troops left. The Nigerians twice ousted rebels from the capital. They suffered heavy casualties, and also committed abuses of their own. “Today, everybody is waiting for the Nigerians to come back,” said Ishmael Diramy, 42, a displaced person waving two handless stumps as he discussed the new outbreak of war. Nobody, it seems, has a better solution.
title: “Fury And Fear” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-28” author: “Randell Kain”
Nearby, other men huddle near a transistor radio. Days earlier, rebels with a penchant for unspeakable violence had broken a peace pledge and attacked United Nations forces in Sierra Leone, sometimes using captured U.N. guns and possibly armored personnel carriers in a fresh offensive on Freetown. The latest news bulletin is hopeful, at least: pro-government forces have retaken the burned-out market town of Masiaka, 56 kilometers outside of the capital, temporarily halting a week-long advance. But nobody is sanguine. “We are worried a lot,” says Joe Johnson, 65, as the group around the radio disperses. During an offensive against his village two years ago, rebels chopped the hands off of some of Johnson’s relatives and killed others. “We don’t want the war to come even to the edge of the city. We need help quickly, even today.”
By late last week the arrival of British and Jordanian reinforcements had helped stabilize the military situation around Freetown. But that wasn’t enough to save the country, so diplomats at the United Nations and in Western capitals scrambled to see what more could be done. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t have a record of prompt action in Africa. And when help does arrive, it’s often not very effective. U.N. peacekeepers already have a string of unsuccessful missions on the continent, and a U.N. inquiry recently issued a highly critical report on the world’s failure to prevent the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. (To be fair, U.N. peacekeepers also have a couple of African successes, including peace in Mozambique.) Last week’s slide back toward full-scale civil war in Sierra Leone, where rebels still held some 500 peacekeepers hostage, raises questions about whether the United Nations has learned much from previously mishandled catastrophes.
It also cast a shadow on the commitment of wealthy democracies to help Africa. Some 37,000 superbly equipped, mostly NATO peacekeepers are stationed in Kosovo, an area slightly more than one-seventh the size of Sierra Leone. But Africa doesn’t have a NATO. It’s hardly surprising that the poorly trained, ill-equipped and outnumbered Zambian, Kenyan and other peacekeepers in Sierra Leone got into trouble, and sometimes couldn’t fight their way out of it.
The renewed conflict in Sierra Leone comes, moreover, at a time when much of Africa is in turmoil, racked by war, famine and disease (map). Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, led a Security Council mission to the continent during the past two weeks, mainly to prepare for a U.N. peacekeeping operation to the Congo. The fighting there has been dubbed “Africa’s first World War” because of the involvement of neighboring countries. But he spent much of the trip dealing with other crises–an eruption of political violence in Zimbabwe and intelligence forecasts of renewed war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Two days after Holbrooke left the African Horn, Ethiopia launched an offensive on at least two fronts. “There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the attack had been planned before we got there,” said a despairing diplomat who participated in the talks.
With so much going wrong in so many places, last week’s battle for Freetown took on symbolic heft. This wasn’t just a fight for a dilapidated city in a half-forgotten patch of Africa. It was a battle for the credibility of the United Nations, and for its ability to help the world’s poorest, most beleaguered people. “This time, in this crisis, let us back words with deeds and mandates with the resources that will work,” U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan told a special late-night session of the Security Council.
There was some evidence the world might do just that. More than 700 British paratroopers rushed to Freetown last week, and 600 Royal Marine commandos were on their way. They were dispatched mainly to help foreigners escape, and secured nearby Lungi International Airport, freeing up progovernment forces to defend the outskirts of the city. The country was crawling with British special forces, leading to speculation that the Brits might even undertake a more aggressive mission.
President Clinton agonizes over his administration’s failure to prevent horrors in Africa. “There is nothing in his presidency that upsets him more than Rwanda,” says an associate. Clinton promised Annan that Washington was ready to join the others in helping Sierra Leone. “He’s very, very seriously determined not to turn his back on this,” said one White House official. What that means, exactly, is not clear. As a modest contribution to the defense of Freetown, the United States was scouring NATO depots in Europe for spare concertina wire, sandbags and other materials. Washington also offered to airlift peacekeepers to Sierra Leone last week, but at rates higher than those offered by commercial airlines. What the Clinton pledge does not mean, in any case, is that U.S. combat troops will be heading to Africa. (At the most, U.S. soldiers might help with logistics.) Clinton may be haunted by Rwanda, but the administration won’t risk a repeat of its failure in Somalia, where clan-based militiamen killed 18 U.S. soldiers in a horrific battle in 1993.
Washington plans to provide logistical support this time, mainly for a Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force that will likely have a “more robust” mandate to take on the RUF. A small U.S. military team was in Abuja last week to discuss what the Nigerians might need–from small arms to food, fuel and spare tires. The idea seemed to have the support of Nigeria’s elected leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, but it wasn’t wildly popular among other Nigerians: “There’s an underlying racism to what is going on,” said one Nigerian with close ties to the military. “The impression we get is that a white man will not sacrifice himself for a black cause.”
The Nigerian-led mission, if it gets off the ground, is further complicated by the fact that hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers remained in rebel hands last week. That’s largely why Clinton also sent Jesse Jackson on a diplomatic mission to the region. Jackson helped to broker the original, flawed ceasefire in the conflict, and now he’s coming back to resurrect it. He said before leaving that one of his first aims would be to locate rebel leader Foday Sankoh. To the embarrassment of the U.N., Sankoh disappeared from his Freetown villa during a chaotic protest there last week, in which his guards opened fire with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, killing at least four people.
Sankoh’s rebels are motivated by lust for power and loot, as well as a suspicion of foreign intervention. The peace agreement signed last July gave Sankoh the vice presidency and control over the country’s mines, as well as full amnesty for his forces. But Sankoh might have wagered that once his forces disarmed, he’d be sidelined. His rebels, who originally launched their war in 1991 against a very corrupt and inept government, now control more than half of the country and most of its diamond fields. The young toughs the RUF recruits–sometimes by force–often are hopped up on drugs and routinely rape women. Their signature atrocity is to chop the limbs off civilians. “It may not be logical that one human would cut the hand off another,” says Ian Smillie, a Canadian development consultant and co-author of a recent study on the illicit diamond trade in Sierra Leone. “But the terror tactic is flawless. They wanted to scare people out of the diamond areas so they could mine with impunity.”
The rebel diamonds help to pay for weapons, among other things. The gems are exported largely through neighboring Liberia, ruled by Charles Taylor, himself a former guerrilla leader. Liberia exported more than 6 million carats a year between 1994 and 1998, according to records of the Belgian Diamond High Council; its own diamond-mining capacity is between 100,000 and 150,000 carats. Now African diplomats are pressing Taylor, whose own motley force once included a “small-boy unit,” to use his influence to reign in the RUF.
In the meantime pro-government forces are battling RUF fighters near Freetown. Along the road to Waterloo, 20miles to the southeast, newly arrived Jordanian troops last week manned dug-in APCs and Sierra Leone officers manned frequent checkpoints. Most significant, perhaps, trucks streamed down the road carrying non-uniformed Civil Defense fighters known as kamajohs, or hunters, wearing the traditional war regalia of charm necklaces and bandanas.
The kamajohs have a reputation for eating pieces of the hearts and private parts of their dead foes, and they also have fickle loyalities. “We are fighting side by side [with the government], and there is no confusion,” said Francis Foray, a member of the kamajoh high command. “Our boys are dealing with the rebels now.” One of his fighters, listening in, added from behind his mirror sunglasses: “And we are ready to fight along with you people.”
The breakdown in Sierra Leone already is having an impact on other peacekeeping operations. NEWSWEEK has learned that the Security Council delegation came back from the Congo last week thinking that the deployment there probably needs to be bigger than the 5,500 peacekeepers currently planned. The town of Kisangani, scene of recent fighting between erstwhile allies Rwanda and Uganda, may need a battalion with greater authority to demilitarize soldiers, said a senior U.N. diplomat. “But Congress has put a hold on our funds,” he added.
On the streets of Freetown, hope is a battle-tested Nigerian with a well-oiled weapon and a willingness to use it. Nigerian forces have spent much of the past decade in Sierra Leone at the head of a West African peacekeeping force called ECOMOG, and the latest outbreak of fighting began as the last of the ECOMOG troops left. The Nigerians twice ousted rebels from the capital. They suffered heavy casualties, and human-rights groups say they also committed abuses of their own. “Today, everybody is waiting for the Nigerians to come back,” said Ishmael Diramy, 42, a displaced person waving two handless stumps as he discussed the new outbreak of war. Nobody, it seems, has a better solution.
