SIERRA LEONE | Bringing the Peace Back to West Africa
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 01:33AM 
Freetown. Adam Cohn.
Witness | Interview with Memunatu Pratt, May-June 2010
Ms. Memunatu Pratt, a Professor at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, got back recently from Argentina, and prior to that from Poland, where she joined government and academic leaders from many countries sharing lessons and debates about preventing genocide and war crimes with the New York-based Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation. Fortunately, she had time to share some ideas about what has helped heal her native country.
****************************************************
HELO: When did you know you wanted to teach about peace and transitional justice in West Africa?
MP: Peace is critical to the survival and development of humanity and particularly to states in the universe. The need for me to teach peace arose from the brutal eleven-year war Sierra Leone went through. I was born in Sierra Leone and got my education both in Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom.
I never left during the war, so I witnessed atrocities committed against my fellow countrymen. As a university lecturer, I interacted with all the different warring parties as well as ordinary citizens who were not able to leave the country. I was able to listen to the ways grievances were articulated:
The desire for good governance; the disillusionment with the level of corruption and lack of access to social services; and the failure of successive governments to provide the kind of leadership and services needed. Worse was the state of hopelessness, hunger, unemployment, gross violations of basic fundamental rights, poverty, and the collapse of government institutions.
Further were questions of whether we as academics were doing enough when there was a need for institutions that can address human rights and transitional justice.
Can you share any specific events that changed you personally in this direction?
My witnessing the brutal atrocities committed, maiming, rape and sexual violence, arson, genocide and the use of child soldiers during the war dramatically change my perspective. I was also moved by the writings and works of many like Mahatma Ghandi, Boutros-Boutros Ghali, Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, Kofi Annan, Johan Galtung, Elsie Boulding, David Barash...The list goes on.
Other issues that changed my perspective have to do with the extent of civil wars in Africa and the related deaths, consequences in addition to the fragility of the continent.
Africa, in my view, has needed to do so much in tackling wars and conflicts as most of the wars had rippling effects on each other through the displacement of populations, economic dependency, transhipment of arms, resource trade and warlordism.
Since the war ended, and even more so after the death of the Revolutionary United Front leader, Foday Sankoh, in detention, global media coverage has largely looked away from Sierra Leone, so what kinds of stories should international journalists be covering there today?
International journalists should cover issues the progress and challenges in peace consolidation in Sierra Leone. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the governance reform process, the institutionalization of local government decentralization, government efforts in addressing gender and sexual violence, the challenges to the Security Sector reform process, the education reform programmes, and the challenges of tackling youth unemployment.
Further issues could be the work of the United Nations' Peacebuilding Commission. Sierra Leone and Burundi are the first pilot countries. A number of countries need to learn from this process as it is the first successful programme of building a peacekeeping to peacebuilding continuum. Also, journalists should cover sexual and gender-based violence, the legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, child labor, women trafficking, illicit drug trade, and reparations and memorialization.
Any surprising stories about Sierra Leone which have little or nothing to do with war?
Yes, the successful hosting of the 2007 elections and the smooth transfer of one democratically elected government to the other through the ballot box and not bullets, the strides made in fighting corruption through the work of the anti-corruption commission.
There is also the passing of three landmark gender bills, on sexual violence, devolution of estates, and marriage. This is really an enviable step as it is a big shift from the traditional cultural to promoting rights of women and protecting women in largely polygamous marriages with no social guarantees.
For Foday Sankoh and the RUF, as well as the other fighting groups including the government, there must have been tens of thousands of devoted followers. Only a small handful of fighters joined the government or were tried for war crimes, so what's happened to the other fighters?
All the other fighters were demobilized and reintegrated into society. Most have returned to their homes but now actively are members of existing political parties. Government’s development programmes in agriculture and food security, trade and small scale enterprise development are targeting them in their communities.
What is evident is that, since most were youths, there is a now a project funded through the UN Peacebuilding Fund addressing youth unemployment and skills development. In further support of this, the government has established the National Youth Commission through an act of parliament.
What's the deciding factor in your opinion whether a fighter successfully reintegrates versus refuses reintegration?
The fact that over 70% returned to their communities and were reunited through community reintegration programmes tells me that they were somehow successfully reintegrated, the key challenge is the economic re-integration, this is difficult as experience in dealing with countries coming out of long devastating wars is that reviving the economy and re injecting the energies of fighters into the development of the economy takes a long time.
There must have been some core believers in the fight, maybe people who retain hatred for other ethnic groups, have they simply turned away from the war so easily?
The war in Sierra Leone was not based on core beliefs as in other countries; our war was purely a war of neglect, poverty, deprivation, lack of access to social service, poor governance, and corruption. It never took a religious, ethnic, or racial dimension.
Many governments are beginning to fund "peacebuilding" and "reconciliation" work, but some aid workers already argue that they are just painting the words on the old style development projects, not pursuading anyone who wasn't already peace-minded. What is the pre-requisite for making it work?
The pre-requisite for making peacebuilding and reconciliation to work is to draw a clear understanding of dealing with issues of peace relating to structural, institutional, social, political and economic factors.
In peace work it is the more the merrier, the more you have various actors working on these issues the better the possibility of achieving sustainable peace. The challenge is lack of coordination and synergy.
But the good news is that there are a number of international instruments, protocols and agreements signed at an international level which can account for progress made so far- the UN Charter, The Africans Union Protocol on peace and security, the MDGs, the UDHR , individual country’s national development plans, peace agreements signed, etc.
We learned you had an opportunity to visit Holocaust sites in Poland recently with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR), and then met again with other government leaders who went on the trip recently in Argentina. What was the most surprising thing for you at Auschwitz?
The most surprising thing was to actually come face to face with the realities of Nazi atrocities. Further was the extent to which the state was used as an instrument of organising the Holocaust.
This for me is still the most sophisticated manner of human destruction I have seen throughout my life. Even though Africa has witnessed wars and genocide it is still incomparable. I am still wondering as to how the knowledge of committing the process of these atrocities came from.
This brings me to commend the work of AIPR, which for me is unparalleled especially bringing individuals from different governments to have first hand interaction with these issues and places and have an opportunity to share experiences, also in leading the way for us to develop a global understanding of wars, genocide, dictatorship, and repressive events that have occurred around the world.
Today I use the experience in my teaching of peace, in consulting with governments and engaging in practical conflict management activities.
Was there a connection between the conflict dynamics of what happened there and what happened in Sierra Leone's civil war, in your opinion?
Certainly, there is a connection between the conflict dynamics in Sierra Leone and the Holocausts the extent to which human beings can systematically terminate one another and the level to which Foday Sankoh used people as human shields and meted out punishment to them in the name of liberation.
The Nazi Holocaust was equally publicized as war of liberation and want of a better life. Taking the Jews to the Camps in Poland was also publicized in Germany as a way of cleansing and making Germany safer. Both utilized ‘Liberation’, ‘Freedom’, and ‘want of a better life’ for committing mass atrocities.
What was it like meeting again in Buenos Aires with all the other representatives who made the journey? Any anecdotes you can share?
The meeting in Buenos Aires was interesting especially in looking at what is happening in Africa and what has gone on not only in Argentina but in some Latin American countries in the name of dictatorship.
Some African countries had been through dictatorship but what was amazing in the case of Argentina was how it was managed and institutionalized. I personally admired the strengths of the [Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of women who lost children dyring the country’s Dirty War].
Finally, I am still wondering as to how longer term peace will be developed when some of those who worked with the dictatorship are still in positions of trust today in Argentina. The good news is the work that has commenced on building lasting memory is supported by the government and work of Argentinian visual artists.
Finally, after working on all these heavy topics which must remind many about the war, how do you cope with the stress? What do you do to relax after work or what kind of music do you listen to get through the day?
I am personally involved with Prison Watch Sierra Leone were I to some extent support women in Prison through donations and advocacy work with the justice sector. I like listening to Western Country and African Music.
I really have to struggle to find time to relax as I work both in the University and at home, notwithstanding in my free time, I work with some humanitarian agencies, in fundraising, and networking.
Reader Comments (5)
A real music lover must know much about dre beats headphones, for the beats solo voice is great! Every music love take them honor to have a dr dre headphones. so if someone have interest with it you can ask me.
r. Dre former name is b. Andre, was born in 1965, February 18, rap singer. West coast is recognized as the leader and founder of rascal rap, rolling stone magazine especially admire him.The dr dre headphones is very famous that studio.beats by dre can bring you to a lovely music world.Enjoy music with beats headphones.
Abolishment of Genocide -
Civilocity is a form of government where the people watch the ruler entirely amongst their reign. I wonder if Anne Frank would have included civilocity in her second book if she had known what it is? Well if she didn't she would allow what happened to her to happen to someone else. What civilocity is to you is a word what it is to her is a breath.
If Anne Frank didn’t write about civilocity she would be allowing what happened to her to happen to someone else in Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Cambodia after it happened to her. It is almost like Anne Frank wrote about the wrong thing and the holocaust survivors are writing about the wrong thing and you Helo Magazine are writing about the wrong thing.
dr dre headphonesI shook my head, smile a while, such as a cold autumn daisy, thanks to make the final tidbits and in support of the legitimate demands of the people," the army "will continue meeting on a continuous basis to examine measures to be taken to protect the nation and its gains and the ambitions of the great Egyptiandr dre beats people," AFP quoted the statement as saying The danger is that prices fall, real estate depreciation and other issues may be harder to obtain loans frightened consumersU The years, like a top spin, lost road I was looking for the ideal $ 299 LtdWell, said so many advantages, disadvantages say that, first ofmonster beats all say that to wear, because the weight is not very light (as opposed to SA5000 is), the general comfort of wearing the headset is not enough ventilation in the summer wear is expected to feel hot,But twobeats by dre Pidian very soft, the feeling of not chuck; headset design does not know is semi-open or open, in short, can hear the music next door, where in the library to listen to the words of such harassment will be could notBeats by Dre Studio burn the headset open, more dental,But I can accept the degree, which is not very exciting, and then look to be open burning; there is the headset is active noise canceling headphones, requires two AAA batteries, no batteries to hear the music "My main responsibility is to ensure stability, and in the next few months I will work on the country's stability," he said
Bottega Veneta handbags
Bottega Veneta sale
Bottega Veneta 2012
You wondered, you are not the only one caught in a dilemma of students But I can help you is to teach you how to learn golfNever been touched over the body because the more ambiguous the tight contact Because wine and meat color in this place to talk about things that are often fragrant highest success rate"This is what injections ah? Yudie feel her body has lost strength, even the eyelids are so heavy rolling into