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‘Save Mama Salone’ Campaign
SUMMARY
October 2007
The persistent attitudes of violence among citizens in Sierra Leone, and especially the increasing incidence of fights and destruction of property involving young people within the political parties, have given cause for grave concern.
In our society – one that is emerging from a devastating civil war lasting for over a decade – the end of the physical violence seems to have provided more opportunities for latent prejudices to fester, especially between and among political parties. Unfortunately, from time to time, they erupt into distressing experiences within whole communities, involving loss of life and destruction of private and public property.
Such demonstrations are facilitated by the volatile temperament of young people, many of whose conscious lives have been dominated by atrocities, as well as physical and psychological violence directed towards them.
During major political rallies and campaigns, the culture of violence permeates our society in the streets, the home, in business, in the social milieu, through the murderous traffic, and armed burglaries in the dead of night – all take a heavy toll on the effectiveness of the already overstretched police.
The presidential polling result after August 11, in which the total number of votes for the APC candidate was 815,523 (44.3%) and SLPP 704,012 (38.3 %), precipitated a host of violent incidents, especially in areas that were identified as strong holds by the runners-up.
Indeed, most of the attacks were attributed to militant party supporters organized by key players with the intent of influencing elections and thereby gaining political clout.
This ugly development further heightened concerns about the alleged links between political parties and organized crime, and about the government’s poor record on improving security.
Considering the extraordinary measures the citizens have had to take in order to stay safe, and the impact of violence on the country’s fledging democracy, Hope-Sierra Leone’s Clean Elections Campaign designed a one month, action-packed project tagged “Embedded Operation”. The project was divided into two phases: first, to address urgent concerns to facilitate citizen understanding of the September 8 run-off elections (to make violence less attractive to a wide array of youth groups); and, second, to ensure that the electoral results were accepted and respected.
In the build-up to the September 8 run-off elections, the Hope-Sierra Leone team repeatedly held meetings with the top executives of the Sierra Leone People’s Party and the All People's Congress to urge peaceful means in all their respective engagements.
The September 8 run-off election was characterized by hype and speculation. The most militant wings of the two parties had warned the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and the security forces that “if the election is rigged, we will consider it unacceptable and disrupt the entire process”. The CEC witnessed a host of violent incidents shortly after Candidates Ernest Bai Koroma and Charles Margai (the third-placed candidates in the first round who threw his support behind the APC) were forced to relinquish campaigning in the country’s South East due to violence.
Violent conflict continued in the East, in Segbwema, the SLPP office was attacked by unknown assailants and set ablaze. These sad developments revealed ethnic faults lines in a country with barely 5 million people, with the SLPP drawing its support from the Southern Mende people and the APC from in the Temne in the North and West.
The CEC team, in collaboration with a coalition of concerned partners comprising representatives from the SLPP and APC, the media and the Sierra Leone Police, engaged groups living in high risk communities in public and private discussions to urge calm ahead of the run-off.
Through private and public discussions, the operation, also tagged ‘Save Mama Salone’, was carried out on the streets, with political parties, and in ghettoes, lorry parks, market places, cinemas, cemeteries, slums, ferry terminals etc.
Each engagement was a moving plea, mainly to young people, not to go on the rampage for politicians or selfish citizens, but to contribute positively to the electoral process and experience the difference the new government will show in terms of better conditions “Whether you are from the East, North, South or Western Area, we belong to one country, we are one people – which means that we should reconcile” the CEC team declared. The team also called on them to “accept the outcome of the elections and remain peaceful, as insecurity will create bad fruits”. In one of the engagements, the Chairman of the Luma Boys, (Ascension Town Cemetery Youth, commonly known as ‘Skulls and Bones’) Benjamin Conteh, lamented “Living in the cemetery is very difficult. We want to enter mainstream society and flourish. We will not allow selfish individuals or politicians to engage us in violence”. A total of 3500 young people were engaged in the Western Area (Urban/Rural) and the North.
Read full report (PDF file, 4 MB!)
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