Reconciliation in Sierra Leone

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• Reconciliation in Sierra Leone
• Katerina Werkman
• Charles University Prague

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Reconciliation

• Meaning of reconciliation may vary across the
  different national contexts and may even raise
  diverse expectations among the actors within the
  same society.
• In Sierra Leone much effort done since the war
  ended in 2002 to bring about reconciliation, at
  the national, community and individual levels

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What is understood under reconciliation?

• kol hart - one's heart (as the center of
  feelings, thoughts and intentions) does not
  contain feelings of anger, resentment or grudge
  against the others
• warm hart - implies inability of a proper
  social relationship with the other(s) because of
  the feeling of anger or revenge
• wan word - understood as a collective kol
  hart (be it in a family or community) and is
  expressed through the community's ability to work
  or talk in unity

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Reconciliation as unity

• These are the things we look at as
  reconciliation among ourselves and having peace
  coming together, greeting one and other, meeting
  one and other, knowing each other's problems,
  eating together, having unity among ourselves,
  those are the things. (Mofindor, Women FG)
• Reconciliation is coming together to be united.
  So that we can live as one. (Feijia, Young Woman
  - Rape Victim)
• A single tree cannot be a forest. So one person
  cannot promote or develop the community until
  others go with him, you go together, put things
  together, then you try to work for the better to
  develop this community. It is unity. (Njagbahun,
  Chief)

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Reconciliation and Development

• Reconciliation is peace. If we are peaceful we
  will work towards development. But if we are not
  peaceful, there will be no development.
  (Kogbotuma, Women FG)
• Reconciliation is being united to bring
  development... for example here people work
  together to put up a structure where we can
  disuss issues. (Feijia, Ex-Combatant)
• It is because of reconciliation we are now able
  to develop our town, our community. Build
  mosques, churches and even work for ourselves and
  do community work. (Kogbotuma, Youth FG)

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Reconciliation, Confession, Forgiveness

• To talk about the past again, to speak it out
  again... if that would be the case we always
  reflect it and make it exist back again. So
  instead we forget about it. (Port Loko, Chief)
• Noone should be pushed to confess, that wouldnt
  help in reconciliation. Confession would lead to
  more trouble. We asked anchestors to forgive all
  those that done wrong so could live like one
  family... (Borbu, Chief)
• Once we have taken an oath of making
  reconciliation... and everybody is happy with
  each other in the town, there is no need for
  someone to come and make a public confession as
  it will create new problems, the person better
  keep quiet about it. (Mofindor, Women FG)

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Reconciliation, Confession, Forgiveness

• Because of the fear they the ex-combatants
  were having when they returned from the war, they
  were afraid to explain all their bad deeds, they
  were afraid to confess, so they would call on
  their immediate friends or brothers to explain
  all the deeds and then later those family members
  would go and tell that to the authorities or to
  the community. (Njagbahun, Youth FG)
• There is a law that whenever we go to the
  society shrine, if you have any hidden thing
  inside yourself, you have to confess. If you
  don't confess, you will not be fine... (Senehun,
  Men FG)

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Reconciliation and Reparations

• We know that we will not regain what we have
  lost but at least let there be some sign of
  helping hand for the government and the NGOs
  that will help us forget. Because they burnt our
  houses, if the government could provide zink for
  the roof, we would be very pleased. (Gondama,
  Women FG)
• Those that were having houses and those houses
  were burnt down, even if that person may have
  peace of mind, at any time he or she reflects
  back to the past there will be no peace,
  perhaps because that person is old now and cannot
  afford to put up another house, so that is the
  problem now. (Njagbahun, Youth FG)

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What actually helped communities to achieve
reconciliation?

• Pragmatism
• We have the believe that if you punish them,
  they will not be happy about it and revenge.
  (Kogbotuma, Chief and Elders)
• If you continue to mock those that return, they
  may change their mind again to do another thing.
  (Senehun, Youth FG)
• We have forgiven them. We have no other option.
  (Gondama, Women FG)

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• Pa Kabbah and the government
• Kabbah called for peace and reconciliation in
  Sierra Leone... he said to accept those people
  that have done things in our homes, in these
  places, let's have peace and forget about it.
  (Mofindor, Elderly Woman)
• For the sake of the governement and Pa Kabbah,
  we just had to accept them. Not of our wish.
  (Kogbotuma, Ex-combatant)
• Government told us to forgive and forget so we
  did. (Gondama, Chiefs)

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...

• Chiefs
• One of the first things we did when we returned
  was introducing by-laws that noone should point
  hands at anyone else and saying he or she
  belonged to this or that faction. If you say that
  to someone else and there are witnesses, they
  will take you to the chiefs... (Ngiema, Youth
  FG)
• When we were performing the ceremony, a law was
  introduced that noone should be pointing fingers,
  that it would be a crime and everybody said, lets
  get together and reconcile. (Borbu, Women FG)

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...

• Traditional Ceremonies
• We had a small ceremony... We asked the
  ancestors for protection and for nothing sinister
  to happen again... After we did the sacrificial
  activities, the whole village came together again
  and we made a collective sacrifice a red bull.
  We did this together to create unity / oneness.
  (Kondeya, Women FG)
• When we came back we had to do some sacrifice at
  our ancestral place... So all of us did it in
  order to ask the ancestors to really accept us as
  we have returned home from war. And now that we
  are together let's continue to experience peace
  and unity in the town, that nobody should be
  named in relation with this war - you did it, you
  did it, you did it... Let's all forget about
  that. (Mofindor, Woman FG)