Sierra Leone Civil War

In this unit I learned about the significant impact that genocide had on Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Knowing that Africa has been effected by genocide, I learned more about the subject than I had ever known. In Ishmael Beah’s book “A Long Way Gone”, I read about what he had experienced from living in Sierra Leone and facing a mass genocide. Beah lost his family from genocide while he was away performing with his rap group. Eventually he was captured by the army and was brainwashed into thinking that anyone he kills can potentially avenge his family’s death. To tell someone who is just twelve years old or younger that killing others will make up for their family’s death is inhumane. The army had an extreme advantage

In this day and age, the world is very corrupt. From lying to killing, we’ve got it all. Unfortunately, genocide is among one of the problems of this perverted world. Genocide is a deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Something connected to genocide that is on its own level of disgusting is that many people disregard the genocides that are going on, like the one in Darfur, and there are people that even deny that past genocides, like the holocaust, has ever happened. Now, there were times where people tried to stop genocides. As the cartoon drawn by Michael “Sudsy” Sutherland shows the UN saying that they

When you picture war, what do you see? Is it people with tanks and Ak-47s fighting each other? Maybe adults in camo fighting in the desert? Or perhaps even an image from your Call of Duty video game pops into your head. But what most people don’t imagine is children, ages 9-15, fighting each other and dying at the hands of guns and other weapons. Although this might seem unrealistic, it is a reality for thousands of pre-adolescents around the world. Many places such as Sierra Leone have recruited hundreds of children to fight in wars. Some families die due to the violence, while other children are taken or come willingly and are brainwashed and drugged into thinking that what they are doing is normal. They refer to their commanders as father

The chapter “‘You’ll Never Believe What Happened’ Is Always a Good Place to Start” from the Native Narrative “The Truth About Stories” by Thomas King explores the twisting path of how stories shape who we are, how we understand things, and how we interact with the world around us. Thomas King strengthens his argument by giving a detailed example that better, proves what he is trying to say. He tells a story about the moment he discovered what happened to his father, which I believe answered a lot of questions in his life. The author's father left when he was a little boy. The father remarried two more times, had seven more children who never knew that the authors nor his brother existed until the day of all their father's funeral. In this chapter

In 1944, a Polish-Jewish lawyer came up with the word, “genocide.” However, even seventy-five years later, many people still debate what factors go into making a genocide. Of course, there is mass murder, mistreatment of large groups of people, and difficult life conditions. Take the Cambodian Genocide, for example. People were tortured and killed so much during this genocide that at one of the death camps, “as few as 12 managed to survive” (Pierpaoli). People were robbed, killed, forced to evacuate their homes, and mistreated in many other ways during the Cambodian Genocide. These people had to live in terrible conditions. The same thing goes for what the reader sees of the Holocaust in Elie Wiesel’s Night. Throughout the book, the reader

“The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars’’ is an article by Jeffrey Gettleman from the New York Times on the subject of child soldiers. All over Africa militias are fighting each other for control over certain areas. These militias have deployed four foot tall killing machine that terrorize, loot, and destroy village after village these weapons: child soldiers. Mozambicans have learned that children were the perfect weapon since they were easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless and most important in endless supply. There are 300,000 child soldiers worldwide experts say that the nature of the conflict changes especially in Africa. Years of struggle through war and politics have morphed from the idea or cause warlord led drives which essential

In 1944, a Polish-Jewish lawyer came up with the word, “genocide.” However, even seventy-five years later, many people still debate what factors go into making a genocide. Of course, there is mass murder, mistreatment of large groups of people, and difficult life conditions. Take the Cambodian Genocide, for example. People were tortured and killed so much during this genocide that at one of the death camps, “as few as 12 managed to survive” (Pierpaoli). People were robbed, killed, forced to evacuate their homes, and mistreated in many other ways during the Cambodian Genocide. These people had to live in terrible conditions. The same thing goes for what the reader sees of the Holocaust in Elie Wiesel’s Night. Throughout the book, the reader follows the author as he witnesses huge amounts of mass murder, watches as other people are brutally abused, as he, too, is being horribly mistreated, all while he is being forced to live in horrible living conditions. However, there are other factors that go into what make a genocide, well, a genocide. That is the alienation of a specific group of people and the oppression and dehumanization of that same group. These people were greatly impacted by their alienation, facing a lot of oppression, and being dehumanized in both the Cambodian Genocide and the Holocaust in Elie Wiesel 's Night.

On April 6, 1994, the deaths of the Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda in a plane crash caused by a rocket attack, ignited several weeks of intense and systematic massacres. Looking back on the genocide, through the film Hotel Rwanda and documentary Ghosts of Rwanda, it is proven that the United Nations and outside governments failed to respond in the face of obvious genocide.

The United States often have an had interest in the political, social and civil crises of other countries in order to benefit themselves. American senior officials hid the truth of the Rwanda Genocide to avoid public moral obligation. The government did not give any financial or political support to the country because Rwanda did not offer minerals or political advantages and stability; the US ' government did not want to be involved in another conflict, even though it has helped other countries in the past.1 But what is truly deeper hidden, are the stories of people like Immacule, a young girl, who, unlike thousands of others, survived the catastrophic genocide in Rwanda.

He contends that when an individual or group is denied its major requirement for identity, security, acknowledgment or equivalent investment inside of the general public, extended conflict is inescapable. To determine such conflict, it is essential that needs that are debilitated be distinguished and along these lines rebuilding of connections or the social framework happen in a way that needs of all people and groups are suited (Burton John, 1991,p82). For instance, this model can be helpful in the cases of African conflicts, for example, that of Darfur, Burundi, Dr Congo and Rwanda conflicts, where there are limitations on opportunity and support of its nationals in political and monetary

With over a million Angolans killed and their development stunted, Angola’s political structure has been left broken, and their government is now weak and corrupt. The proxy war impacted the nations participating in the global fight between democracy and communism. While the war was a victory for democracy and affected the outcome of the Cold War, the civil war was very damaging to Angola itself. This is why many historians, along with myself, believe that the colonization of Angola was deleterious to Angola’s political structure and development. This can be seen in Angola’s transition from a relatively mighty kingdom, to a kingdom where the people were forced into labor by their settlers, to a country that became a battle field of a proxy war, and finally to a corrupt democracy. Angola’s corrupt government could lead to disastrous consequences such as a rebellion, and cause yet another war. If there was another war Angola’s allies would be drawn into helping them, and that war would affect the whole world. This is a story of a nation like many others. Understanding the story of Angola’s history can help us when looking at many postcolonial nations which are still transitioning

This literary piece “The Making and Unmaking of a child soldier” by Ishmael Beah, unravels aspects of the world often looked over. The book opens an eye on how child soldiers are used as spawn for civil wars for ruthless warlords over drug empires in Sierra Leone. Children are forced to become soldiers to serve for military and save their country, Sierra Leone. Child soldiers are also forced to work and there are many different jobs which are given to child soldiers.

International failure to stop the Rwandan genocide is a matter of shame for the western world and the rest of the world need to learn lessons from this slaughter. It is pertinent to mention that genocide is the result of a systematic development, culminating in the crime of crimes which implies that it is possible to prevent genocide by finding its causes. Prevention is better than cure always. It is best to detect the roots of genocide early on or before it even begins. The world should adopt the political re-socialization to replace nationalistic attitudes and value systems with more international and humanitarian based ethos (Krugar 103). The best solution to prevent the genocide is to identify and spotlight the countries in danger of genocidal violence and the population should be educated about the abuses of ethnic identity and ethnic cleansing. Moreover, the international community could prevent the genocide by various methods such as negotiations, mediation, coercive methods like defaulters and sanctions, use of high technology like the signal jamming of radio stations. In addition to this, international communities need to break their silence and resolve indifferences and to implement the ‘political will’ strictly; they should be committed towards the principles of power sharing, consensus building, post conflict recovery and timely action. President Bill Clinton admits, about the Rwanda genocide failure, that it was one of “the greatest regrets of [his]

Stabbing someone in the back is a relatively simple task, especially when they are too immature to know what hit them. The civil war in Sierra Leone, lasting from 1991 to 2002, was one of the most gruesome civil wars to date. Unfortunately, it is also overwhelmingly unknown to many American adolescents. This horrifying ordeal in Sierra Leone featured hundreds of children becoming mass murderers, whilst still in their pre-teen years. In hopes of becoming a feared rebel faction, the Revolutionary United Front begins pillaging towns throughout Sierra Leone; thus, turning their back on the peaceful residents and farmers across the country. Memoirs like, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, and The Bite of the Mango, by Mariatu Kamara, give the world a first hand look at the hideous truths and hard-hitting of the nightmares that took place in their home country of Sierra Leone. At an unfathomably young age, Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara both suffer because of the sting of betrayal, but Ishmael’s betrayal is more damaging.

War and genocide have historically been closely related and even described as Siamese twins. Genocide can occur without war but war cannot occur without some elements of genocide as the distinction between legitimate war and genocide is not clear. War is defined as an armed conflict between different nations or groups within a nation. Scholars who have studied the relationship between war and genocide have argued that they are one in the same. It is a very convincing argument especially when examining the UN Convention on genocide. The UN Convention defines genocide as “any of the follow acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group” (Jones 13). The wordings of the definition can