Confronting the Memory of War: A call from transitional institutions
This paper is a historical glance at activities and happenings of a post conflict country Sierra Leone. It examined what matter more before, during and after the eleven years of bloody war in Sierra Leone. Confronting the memory of the war was spared head by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. What this means for us as a country and for scholars of the discipline? As a post-conflict nation like Sierra Leone that has witnessed and gone through violent periods, it wanted a transitional healing democracy to dialogue the past in a way of keeping the nation informed of those undemocratic practices that led the nation in a crisis that was senseless.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a transitional healing mechanism was established to investigate or research into the activities of the nation and bring fort report that would make recommendations not only to strengthen the country's peace and stability, but also the no again to war. That lesson learnt from the investigation would be built on for the national vision. Special Court for Sierra Leone in its mandate to try those who bear the greatest responsibility of the war, addressed impunity and accountability to the nation. These two transitional institutions worked in support of the people of Sierra Leone to bring peace to the nation. An historic work was done on what matters most: The nation matter, memorial sites matter, and the activities and legacies matter.
The paper confronting the memory of the war: A call from transitional institutions cannot descriptively narrate the memories of the eleven year war without the nation' matter. That is to say, who was involved, what were their roles, what has been their activities and how did they respond to the legacies of their activities. For example, the legacy of amputees, the vulnerable women and children, and of course the perpetrators. The political parties,the African Union, the Ecomog, the warring factions: Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Civil Defense Forces (RUF), etc.
The Memorialization / sites matter has roles to educate especially the children that were born after the war and the ones yet unborn. It will also add knowledge to what has already gained by children and youths born during the war. Those sites include the Peace Bridge, the mass graves, the museum etc would be there to narrate not only the war, but also efforts that were taking the led to the peace process including reconciliation, reintegration, and disarmament. With this call are also narrative literatures: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report and many more.
The activities and legacies matters investigate activities, then, during and after the war and also during its democratic transitions. These activities and legacies include: governments, international bodies, civil society organizations, and the general public. In all of these, this paperwork reminds them as development partners of those activities that led to the war are mindful of for peace and stability.
