Revolutionary United Front

Revolutionary United Front 1

Revolutionary United Front

Revolutionary United Front

Flag of the RUFMajor actions 19912002

Leader(s) Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao

Active region(s) Makeni, Sierra Leone

Status Defunct

Sierra Leone Civil War

Personalities

Ahmad Kabbah Johnny Paul Koroma Foday Sankoh Valentine Strasser Charles Taylor Solomon Musa Hinga Norman

Armed Forces

ECOMOG Executive Outcomes Kamajors RUF Sandline International SLA West Side Boys

Attempts at Peace

Abidjan Peace Accord Lom Peace Accord UNAMSIL British intervention SCSL


Political Groups

AFRC APC NPRC SLPP

Ethnic Groups

Krio Limba Mende Temne

See also

Conflict diamond Freetown Liberian Civil War Mano River

The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel army that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone,starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later developed into a political party, which existed until 2007. The three mostsenior surviving leaders, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, were convicted in February 2009 of warcrimes and crimes against humanity.[1]

CreationThe Revolutionary United Front initially coalesced as a group of Sierra Leoneans which led National Patriotic Frontof Liberia elements across the border in an attempt to replicate Charles Taylor's earlier success in toppling theLiberian government.[2]

The RUF was created by Foday Sankoh, of Temne and Lokko background, and two allies, Abu Kanu and RashidMansaray, with substantial assistance from Charles Taylor of Liberia.[3] At first, the RUF was popular with SierraLeoneans, many of whom resented a Freetown elite seen as corrupt and looked forward to promised free educationand health care and equitable sharing of diamond revenues. However, the RUF developed a reputationinternationally for enormous cruelty during its decade-long struggle.[4]

When it was first formed, the RUF put forward the slogan, "No More Slaves, No More Masters. Power and Wealthto the People."[] While its goal was clearly to change the government of Sierra Leone, the RUF gave little indicationof what sort of government would replace it. The group did not advocate Marxism or any similar leftist ideology, nordid it advocate extreme nationalism or Fascism. It also did not claim to be a force fighting for a certain ethnic groupor region.[5] At one point, during ongoing peace negotiations in 1995, RUF published a pamphlet entitled "Footpathsto Democracy: Toward a New Sierra Leone", which contained some rhetorical references to social justice andpan-Africanism.[]

CoupFoday Sankoh did not stand by his earlier promises of equitably sharing of diamond revenues and used these funds tobuy arms for himself.[6] With the diamond mines under the control of the rebel party, the RUF became singularlyfocused on protecting its resource base.[6] Sierra Leone's economy collapsed, with ordinary citizens trapped betweenthe cruelty of RUF troops and starvation. After a coup by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in 1997,the RUF and AFRC created a joint junta to control the country before being evicted from the capital by the invasionof a Nigerian-led West African force that reinstated the rule of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. The war is estimatedto have cost the lives of 200,000 people.[7]


Child soldiersChild soldiers were heavily recruited in the Sierra Leone Civil War; a total of 11,000 are thought to have participatedin the conflict.[8] Most were used for attacks on villages and on guard duty at diamond fields as well as guardingweapons stockpiles. Today, about 2000 are still left serving in the military of Sierra Leone.The RUF made extensiveuse of child soldiers,[] using horrific methods to numb their new recruits to barbarity.[9] Thousands of abducted boysand girls were forced to serve as soldiers or as prostitutes,[9][10] and those chosen to be fighters were sometimesforced to murder their parents.[11] Guerrillas frequently carved the initials "RUF" on their chests,[3][12][13] andofficers reportedly rubbed cocaine into open cuts on their troops to make them maniacal and fearless.[4][14][15]

For entertainment, some soldiers would bet on the sex of an unborn baby and then slice open a woman's womb todetermine the winner.[16][17] The RUF abducted children aged 7 to 12, but were known to take children as young as5 years old. The children were notoriously known by captains and civilians for their unquestionable obedience andenormous cruelty.

AtrocitiesIn response to the immediate execution of rebels by government forces, the RUF instead instituted a policy of cuttingoff the hands of captured soldiers with the intent of sending the message, "You don't hold your weapon against yourbrother."[18] Brandishing machetes, RUF rebels amputated the hands, arms, and legs of tens of thousands of SierraLeoneans.[18] The RUF indicated that the reason for these actions was that amputees could no longer mine diamonds,which might be used to support government troops.[19] The election slogan at that time was that the people 'hadpower in their hands', so the RUF would hack the hands off to prevent voting.[19] RUF members are also said to havepracticed cannibalism.[20][21] The government set up a refugee camp where they gathered amputees; the camp wassituated next to the international hotels. They also helped fund the camps and gave them food and water.[22]

Foreign intervention

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In March 1997, Sankoh fled to Nigeria, where he was put under house arrest, and then imprisoned. From this timeuntil Sankoh's release in 1999, Sam Bockarie performed the task of director of military operations of the RUF. In1999, an intervention by the USA, the United Kingdom, and other countries as well as the UN resulted in the signingof the Lom Peace Accord on 7 July 1999.[23] Sankoh was allowed to return under the conditions of the agreement.However fighting again broke out, and the United Nations sent peacekeeping troops in hopes of integrating the RUFinto a new national army. This intervention failed as well, and by 2000 they held 500 UN peacekeepers hostage untiltheir release was negotiated by Taylor. The British and Guineans finally sent in a small professional force in 2001.The RUF was routed following several crushing defeats at the hands of the Indian and British special forces and therevolution ended. Sankoh was captured by a mob[24] and handed to the British where he was indicted for multiplewar crimes by a UN-backed court. In 2003 Sankoh died in prison before the trial took place.[4] Four years later,during the sessions of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, prosecutors claimed that Charles Taylor had activelyparticipated in directing the RUF's strategy from Liberia; among the allegations was that he had arranged to transportRUF commanders to Monrovia to meet with them personally.[25]

Political partyAfter peace was established, RUF was converted into a political party, the Revolutionary United Front Party. Asof 2006 general secretary of the party was Jonathan. In the May 10, 2001, elections the party won 2.2% of popularvotes and no seats. Its candidate at the presidential elections, Alimamy Pallo Bangura, received 1.7% of the vote.The party received its highest votage in Kailahun, 7.8% in the parliamentary election.[26] In July 2007, RUFPmerged with the All People's Congress.[27]

Cultural references

TelevisionLaw & Order episode "Blood Money" was heavily mounted around the strife in Sierra Leone and the traffic inconflict diamonds.

Film Cry Freetown is a 2000 documentary film directed by Sorious Samura. It is an account of the victims of the Sierra

Leone Civil War and depicts the most brutal period with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels capturingthe capital city (January 1999).

RUF was featured significantly in the 2006 movie Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In this film RUFis used largely to create the social climate in which the film is set, and the (fictional) depicted commanders of thegroup are the main antagonists and villains of the story.

The 2010 film Predators is about a group of the most dangerous men on Earth who are taken to an alien planet tobe hunted; one of them is a member of RUF named Mombasa, portrayed by Mahershalalhashbaz Ali.


The 2012 Documentary Life does not lose its value focuses on the reintegration of former child soldiers, after theyhave lived years in the forest with the RUF rebels.

BooksThe RUF's activities also formed the central focus of the autobiographical book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of aBoy Soldier by Ishmael Beah which was published in 2007.[28]

References[2][2] Adekeye Adebayo, Liberia's Civil War, 2002, p.90, citing Paul Richards, 'Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth, and Resources in Sierra

Leone,' (Oxford, James Currey, 1996) and papers presented by Ibraham Abdullah, Patrick Muana, and David Keen at University CollegeLondon, 21 October 2005. Full bibliographical information is at Adebayo, p.98.

[3][3] David M. Crane , Special Court for Sierra Leone (February 5th, 2004)[4][4] David M. Crane[6][6] Taylor Baines, , Global Policy Forum, (February 1, 2001)[7][7] Piero Scaruffi,[8][8] , UN[9][9] Peter Takirambudde, , Human Rights Watch (May 31, 2000)[10][10] , BBC News[11][11] Joseph Opala, , Washington Post (May 14, 2000)[12][12] , Washington Post (September 19, 2001)[13][13] Douglas Farah , Washington Post (April 8, 2000)[14][14] Mar Roman, , The Associated Press (April 19, 2007)[15][15] , Amnesty International (31 August 2000)[16][16] , The Economist (August 7th, 2003)[17][17] , Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture[18][18] Sorious Samura, , CNN (December 23, 2001)[19][19] , CNN (January 18, 2001)[21][21] , The Economist (January 7th, 1999)[22][22] , Monograph, No 80, (March 2003)[25] "Alleged Taylor-RUF Racket Detailed". UNIQ-nowiki-0-76353ce60ca2098c-QINU Monrovia UNIQ-nowiki-1-76353ce60ca2098c-QINU

New Democrat, 14.96 (2007-06-06): 1, 10.[26] http:/ / www. sierra-leone. org/ electioncoverage. html[27] As RUF Merges with APC, Youth Groups Say Ernest Koroma is Salones Saviour: Sierra Leone News (http:/ / news. sl/ drwebsite/ publish/

article_20055947. shtml)

External links RUF manifesto - Footpaths to Democracy (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070614020255/ http:/ / www.

sierra-leone. org/ footpaths. html) The Empire in Africa (http:/ / www. theempireinafrica. com/ )

Article Sources and Contributors 6

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Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Sl RUF.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sl_RUF.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Sanbec at es.wikipediaFile:LocationSierraLeone.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:LocationSierraLeone.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:VardionFile:Coat of arms of Sierra Leone.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Coat_of_arms_of_Sierra_Leone.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0Unported Contributors: File:Lion hraldique.svg - User:Bluebear2 File:Heraldique meuble lion passant.svg - User:Rinaldum, User:S@m, User:Zigeunerfile:Coat_of_arms_of_Haiti_(1964-1986).svg - User:Thommy9 derivative work: Yuma (talk)File:A coloured voting box.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:A_coloured_voting_box.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors:Anomie

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