Sheikou went first. As rebels trained assault rifles at his head,he stretched on his stomach on broken concrete before the school gate and extended his arm. Tommy [one of the rebels] raised the axe high above his bead and slammed it down.

Once, twice, three times, four times. Sheikou's severed hand seemed to jump away from him. The line shuffled forward. Alphas, weeping and shaking, watched his younger brother Amadu, 17, stretch out his right arm. As Tommy raised his axe, Alphas closed his eyes.

Steve Coll, "Peace Without Justice," in the Washington Post Magazine, Jan. 9, 2000

The horrors of the tragic civil war in Sierra Leone remain. The atrocities of the devastating civil war that ostensibly ended with the Lome Peace Accord in July 1999-which Steve Coll described so powerfully above-continue. In March, Human Rights Watch documented fourteen cases of rape, three murders, several cases of mutilation, forced labor, massive looting, and 118 cases of abductions of villagers, committed by rebels less than thirty miles from the capital, Freetown.

Most of the victims were civilians living in camps for internally displaced people who were attacked when they ventured out to get food, wood, or water.

The eight-year civil war has left some 50,000 dead, 25 percent of the population displaced, and thousands of victims of arnputa- tions, mutilations and sexual violence. There had been little ideological basis to the conflict, little to a political agenda for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)-only atrocities, fueled by a desire to control Sierra Leone's rich diamond mines.

The Lome Accord-named after Togo's capital, where the peace agreement was signed- offered amnesty for the horrors that RUF committed. Brokered by the U.S., Britain, West African nations, and the U.N., the agreement also provided several cabinet seats to the rebels and gave them effective control over the country's diamonds.

The U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone, established in October 1999 to implement Lome, is to disarm and demobilize ex- combatants and monitor the cease-fire; in February the U.N. Security Council broadened its mandate to include the protection of civilians. By the middle of the year, 1 1,280 U.N. peace- keepers were in place along with the authorized 260 observers.

In May, a contingency of U.N. soldiers were surrounded and detained by the RUF, but as of this writing, 467 peacekeepers have been released. On May 17, Foday Sankoh, rebel leader of the RUF, was captured by government forces in Freetown. In mid- March, Sankoh, reportedly had refused to recommit to the provisions of the Lome Accord. RUF rebel leader Issa Sesay announced that Sankoh's release was a precondition to the resumption of peace talks.

So far, the U.N. force-together with the now withdrawing regional peace-keeping force ECOMOG (the Nigerian-dominated Economic Community of West African State Military Observer Group)-have received weapons from only 20,000 of the estimated 50,000 combatants. In some areas rebels have simply refused to disarm and in regions they control, they have engaged
U.N forces. Humanitarian relief suffers, and delays in the peace process hinder the return of the civilian population to productive activity. Quite sadly, two reporters were killed in May covering the conflict.

There are, at present, two initiatives related to Sierra Leone before the U.S. Congress. In March, Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.) introduced the Sierra Leone Peace Support Act (H.R. 3879). The bill:

1. provides additional U.S. aid to support the "demobilization, demilitarization, and reintegration" (DDR) effort;
   
2. provides aid for the training in "democratic processes" and in the preparation for democratic elections;
   
3. provides assistance in the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as required by Lome, to establish accountability for human rights abuses;
   
4. requires the President to report on illegal arms and diamond flows in the region;
   
5. calls for sanctions against any neighboring countries that continue to support the RUF; and
   
6. offers temporary protected status to Sierra Leone immigrants.

H.R. 3879 authorizes $15 million for these purposes. A broad range of faith-based and other advocacy groups concerned about justice and human dignity in Africa, from the Washington Office on .Africa, to Amnesty International, have urged passage of the bill, which is now in committee in the House of Representatives.

The second bill, introduced late last year by Rep. Tony Hall (D- Ohio), is the Consumer Access to a Responsible Accounting of Trade Act (H.R. 3188). The bill seeks to "provide for the disclosure of gem-quality diamonds and gem-quality diamond products imported into and sold in the United States." H.R. 3188 requires that diamonds sold in the U.S. be accompanied by a certificate stating the country in which the diamonds are mined.

Rep. Hall's argument is that purchase of diamonds fund wars and human rights abuses in- Angola and the Congo (DRC) as well as in Sierra Leone. Strikingly, in the Sierra Leone tragedy, Antwerp's High Diamond Council reported buying 30 million carats of dia- monds from Liberia during the past five years, despite the conviction by industry analysts that Liberia could never produce two percent of that amount. Most, they say were mined in Sierra Leone and moved through the black market from Sierra Leone and on to the diamond cutting centers of Belgium, from which many then were shipped to the U.S. since over half of the world's gem- quality are imported by the U.S.
Disclosure required by H.R. 3188 will inform and may influence consumer purchases. It is in that sense, a modest bill, as there is no actual prohibition upon the importation of diamonds from, say, Sierra Leone. Nevertheless, identification is a useful step that may move us toward less profiteering from conflict on the one hand and unintentional support for such rebel movements as RUF on the other.

The U.S. assessment of 25 percent of the total U.N. cost for UNAMSIL is $96 million for fiscal year 2000, perhaps increasing to $118 million in 2001. In late April, Sen. Judd Gregg put a hold on funding for these U.N. peacekeepers, despite the urgency for full employment.

If the amputees symbolize the tragedy of Sierra Leone, the range of victims extends far beyond. Rebel combatants included a number of child soldiers, some as young as six or seven. (The need for the U.S. to sign the "optional protocol" in the new Congress will not help them, but it is a significant feature of advocacy for human rights in 2001.) Rape, kidnapping, looting-all carry with them untold psychological damage.

And to get to the point of addressing these issues, Sierra Leone must-with the support of the international community-ensure that peace is indeed here. Without disarmament, without reintegration into society, without steps, however tentative, toward reconciliation, the risk of a return to war is very real.
"This country needs a healing touch," the commander of the U.N. peace-keeping troops remarked recently. We in the U.S. can be a part of that healing, through Congressional action, and through the administration's diplomatic contribution within the multilateral context.

Excerpted Letter from the Human Rights Community to President Clinton

Dear President Clinton:

We write to express our deep concern over the human rights situation in Sierra Leone. Insurgent forces and their leaders inflicted massive reprisals against the civilian population in the past, including tens of thousands of killings, amputations, rapes, and abduc- tions. Knowing what the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the insurgent ex-Sierra Leonean Army (SLA) are capable of, the powerful nations of the world are obliged to take action to prevent them from inflicting a new round of crimes against humanity.

We believe that the United Nations and its member states, including the United States, have an obligation to suppress such crimes in Sierra Leone, and have a particularly high responsibility to defend Sierra Leoneans who have returned to their villages or entered demobilization camps under the assumption that U.N. forces would provide security for them.

We deeply regret that the United States did not affirmatively respond to the Secretary General's request for a rapid reaction force to enter Sierra Leone. Aiding the United Nations in stabilizing the situation there and defending Sierra Leone's besieged civilian population should be considered a matter of American vital interest.

We are aware that the U.S. has offered to transport the additional 3,000 troops that make up the UNAMSIL force. We urge you to do so at the earliest possible moment, and favor as well bolstering the capability of UNAMSIL....

But even a full strength peace- keeping contingent may not be capable of subduing insurgent forces liberating the hostages they hold..., providing safety and security for the population throughout Sierra Leone, and securing the diamond mining area that has funded the RUF's militav effort. UNAMSIL is a peacekeeping force, not a peace- making force. We believe that UNAMSIL should not be tasked to enforce the terms of a peace agreement that has been abrogated in every respect by Foday Sankoh and the RUF.

It is therefore imperative that in addition to deploying additional UNAMSIL troops, a U.S. or British rapid reaction force or a contingent of combat troops from the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOMOG) should be deployed immediately. It is our understanding that the Government of Nigeria has offered such a force. If such a force is deployed, which we would welcome, we would recommend that UNAMSIL civilian human rights monitors be assigned to monitor operations....

We, the undersigned also urge that the terms of the Lome peace agreement providing amnesty for all crimes committed during the civil war be considered null and void. Such a feature should never have been included in the agree- ment. With the RUF in full violation of the accord, Foday Sankoh and his troops should certainly no longer benefit from its provisions providing immunity from prosecution for crimes against humanity.

We urge that a Security Council meeting be called to approve the creation of an official commission of inquiry and the establishment of a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for atrocities against civilians.

The lives of thousands of men, women, and children, who have
already suffered greatly, hang in the balance, as does the prestige and the future effectiveness of U.N. peacekeeping initiatives everywhere in Africa. We look to you to respond on an urgent basis with tangible contributions that will protect all those at risk.

Suggested Action

Urge Congress to support the Sierra Leone Peace Support Act (H.R. 3879) and the Consumer
Access to a Responsible Accounting of Trade Act (H.R. 3188). Encourage your representative to sign on to the bill if he/she has not already done so. Ask your senators to support the bill, which has been referred to the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Addresses.

The Honorable
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable

U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

General Assembly guidance

In 1998, the 210th General Assembly, in approving the "Resolution on just Peacemaking and the Call for lnternational Intervention for
Humanitarian Rescue" renewed its commitment to the promotion "of nonviolent means to conflict resolution." This assembly called upon the U.N. to "enhance its instruments/capacities for nonviolent conflict resolution through negotiation, mediation and arbitration.

Internet resources on Sierra Leone.,

BBC News:
www. bbc.co.uk

The BBC news site has a special section on Sierra Leone. This is by far, the best in-depth news source On Sierra Leone.

United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone: At this U.N. site, you can find updates on the peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone.
Human Rights Watch: This site chronicles the continuing violations of human rights in Sierra Leone.