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Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics

The West Side Boys : military navigation in the Sierra Leone civil war

Upphovspersoner: Utas, Mats | Jörgel, Magnus
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics
År: 2008
Ämnesord:
The West Side Boys were one of several military actors in the Sierra Leonean civil War (1991-2002). A splinter group of the army, the WSB emerged as a key player In 1999-2000. In most Western media accounts, the WSB appeared as nothing more than renegade, anarchistic bandits, devoid of any trace of long-term goals. By contrast, this article aims to explain how the WSB used well-devised military techniques in the field; how their history and military training within the Sierra Leone army shaped their notion of themselves and their view of what they were trying to accomplish; and, finally, how military commanders and politicians employed the WSB as a tactical instrument in a larger map of military and political strategies. It is in the politics of a military economy that this article is grounded.

Mercenaries of democracy : The 'Politricks' of remobilized combatants in the 2007 general elections, Sierra Leone

Upphovspersoner: Christensen, Maya | Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics
År: 2008
Ämnesord: african-youth-league, wallacejohnson, ita
The 2007 general elections in Sierra Leone marked a decisive moment in the country's post-war recovery. In this article we show how political parties strategically remobilized ex-combatants into 'security squads' in order both to protect themselves and to mobilize votes. We look at the tactical and strategic motives behind ex-combatants' choice to join the political campaigning and the alternatives (such as 'watermelon politics'), and we also examine the deep distrust between politicians and ex-combatants. Focusing on politics as the domestication of violence, we shed light on the continuation of pre-war and war-time mobilization of youth into politics and demonstrate how electoral moments can legitimize violence. In hindsight, the 2007 elections strengthened the democratic process in Sierra Leone, but this article shows on what fragile ground this success was built.

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