This month Sierra Leone clocks 20 years in peace, after its eleven years [1991-2002] brutal civil war. On January 18, 2002, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared the war over: “Di war don don,” he said in the now famous phrase. But that was just the beginning of a new phase in the country’s journey as a nation.
It had to deal with the multitude of socioeconomic issues occasioned by the war, including refugees, victims, reparations and, very importantly, maintaining the fragile peace. Several organizations were established to ensure that these issues remain on the agenda of successive governments. One of these organizations is the Center for Memory and Reparations, whose main area of focus is to facilitate remembrance and maintain common narratives around the war.
As part of commemoration of this year’s anniversary of the end of the war, in the first in a series of reports, ManoReporters TV talked to Joseph Kaifala, founder of the Think Tank, about his organization and its mission, the state of peace in the country and the way forward in efforts to maintain lasting peace in the country.
