Why?

Why?

Many years ago the only way to get diamonds out of Sierra Leone was to buy them from the rebels who controlled the mines, and to pay with guns which were then used in ways unjust and unfair towards humanity.

When?

In January 1999, Freetown, the capital, was under siege by a barbarous group of thugs known as the Revolutionary United Front. The RUF lived off the country's rich diamond fields and terrorized the population with its signature atrocity of chopping off arms and hands of men, women and often children.(international injustice)

The Main People Behind the Mayhem

Political outsider, Foday Sankoh, formed the RUF (Revolutionary United Front. Rebel leader and later president of neighbouring Liberia, Charles Taylor, backed Sankoh and the RUF.

Liberian President Charles Taylor is actively involved in fuelling the violence in Sierra Leone by being part of the weaponry trade

Paul Koroma the Peace and Liberation Party (PLP) Presidential Candidate seems to be the main one doing crime against humanity

United States Tries to Make Peace

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman For Immediate Release May 12, 1998 STATEMENT BY JAMES P RUBIN, SPOKESMAN

SIERRA LEONE: REBEL ATROCITIES AGAINST CIVILIANS The United States urgently calls for an immediate end to the violence being wreaked on the civilian population of Sierra Leone by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the deposed military junta. Our Ambassador in Freetown and State Department officials have visited survivors and heard stories of entire villages being slaughtered or mutilated by rebel forces. The RUF calls its campaign "Operation No Living Thing." Hundreds of people are being treated in hospitals after rebels chopped their arms, legs, and/or ears with machetes. Thousands more have died before they were able to reach medical help. Many women and children have been raped. This unspeakable cruelty is a gross violation of every tenet of human rights and international humanitarian law. The United States strongly condemns the rebels' horrific actions and urges rebel leadership to order an immediate end to the senseless slaughter, mutilation, and torture of the rural civilian population in Sierra Leone. There are distressing rumors that the RUF and ex-junta forces are being assisted in their campaign of terror by other governments. Although we cannot confirm these rumors, it should be clear that any government or other party which is found to be helping the rebels to prolong the tragedy in Sierra Leone will face the strongest condemnation of the United States and the international community.

::[ Sierra Leone ]::