War and 10 years of violent changes - Front part -
In February of 1991,
in the midst of the Gulf War, the representative of Lend A Hand Movement visited Sierra Leone for the first time to see the actual effectiveness of the assistance. And, although the visit only lasted for three weeks, he saw that the children were still smiling and people were living somewhat peacefully regardless of the political situation. There was no way to foresee that this was about to turn into ten years of war and violent changes. But that is what actually happened. The civil war began and formed a vicious cycle, which pushed the people into great pains and tore the country apart. This was the characteristic of the 90s in Sierra Leone. The civil war was begun by the RUF in June of that year in Kailahun, close to the eastern border of Liberia. Initially, this was only like a distant thunder for Lunsar, a city in the Northern Province. Letters from the sisters also told us, "We are safe because it is far away." In 1992, estimating that the war was only going on in the eastern region of the country, APC attempted to get through with superficial and effortless parliamentary and presidential elections and the people, wanting to avoid further violence and chaos, tolerated this silently. However, Captain Valentine Strasser who was unsatisfied with President Momoh's hypocritical governance, lead a coup d'état with a group of young military officers and succeeded in overthrowing Momoh and other APC leaders, after which they succeeded to power. People welcomed him almost as a savior, but it did not take long to realize that he was not what they thought he was. The new NPRC (National Provisional Ruling Council) regime pledged to end quickly the violent conflict in Kailahun. It called out to the rebels to come out of the bushes. This was ignored, as they were being looked down upon. And the conflict had already begun to permeate the Northern Province.
In 1993, the internal conflict was for a little while under control after the coup d'état, but perhaps because of that, tribal consciousness increased and tribes such as the Mende,Temne, Limba and Fula became active in the attempt to obtain power. And the situation became even more complicated and the conflict prolonged as the influx of arms reached the militias of these tribes (Kamajor, Gbetis, Tamaboro, Donso.) The conflict caused by the RUF was for power and wealth, but the tribal militias that were cooperating with the government had their own reasons for participation. And eventually, both the rebels and the militias began to hunt down young boys and made them soldiers, thus causing the increase of the so-called child soldiers.
For Lend A Hand Movement, this was a year its activities went quite smoothly, although Father Stefani who had been a missionary there for 46 years passed away that June. He was a true pioneer. Perhaps for the Father it was fortunate that he did not witness the tragedy that was caused by the rebels later on.
In 1994, the Rebels eventually began to be active in areas around Lunsar, and the sisters were put in a situation where they slept with all their belongings ready to go, so that they could escape in case of emergency. And the incident happened on December 23rd, when the Rebels captured 9 of the Clarissan Missionary Sisters. They were rescued a few days later, during a battle, but this incident truly made everybody realize that the Northern Province had become a battlefield.
In 1995, Lunsar was attacked after Yonibana. It was New Year's Day. The sisters hurriedly escaped from Sierra Leone to Rome and Nigeria. This first escape, the great earthquake of Hanshin, and the Sarin gas incident in the Tokyo subways by the Aum cult were three unforgettable events and shocking news. However, a few of the sisters who escaped to Rome returned to Sierra Leone in September of that year, and put into effect a new academic year.
