Customer Reviews

A Dirty War in West Africa: The RUF and the Destruction of Sierra Leone

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I've never had any interest in writing a review before, but I felt compelled after reading Mr. Gberie's book. It is thorough and detailed but not overly 'academic'. I think part of what makes it stand out so much is the authors background and personal involvement in the story. He shows how the world was fooled by their pre-conceived notions about 'typical African conflicts' and by the statements of the rebels themselves. By examining the actual facts on the ground and the actions of the rebels he proves that their only motivation for existence was monetary gain. This had a profound effect on the multiple peace negotiations, which many times only made the confict worse. He traces back all of the atrocities that we associate with the RUF war and shows how human beings like you and I were coerced into carrying them out. I've traveled to Sierra Leone and the region several times but until I read this book I never felt like I really comprehended how such atrocities could occur.

I think a good complement to this book would be Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell. Although Mr. Gberie covers some of the ways that diamonds were used to fund the war, Mr. Campbell was able to provide even more detail.

A very intelligent, well written, concise history of the decade long bloody war in Sierra Leone. The author provides insight into the descent into madness or what was essentially a terrorist war on the civilian population of this small west African nation. Dispensing with any notion of a political rebellion of a poor and oppressed people, Mr. Gberie points out correctly that this was in fact little more than an organised criminal theft ring whose primary goal was to enrich the people running it, starting with Liberia's dictator Charles Taylor. I was interested to learn of Qaddafi's connection with financing the RUF. All in all a good read on this dark chapter in human history. I concur with the last reviewer that the DiCaprio movie Blood Diamond is also a good source, if one ignores the whiny Jennifer Connelly character (but not Jennifer herself!) as a silly caricature of the guilt addled American crusader. I think any attempt to blame starry eyed American girls for wanting an engagement ring is simply disingenuous anti-Americanism...American girls did not start this war, smuggle diamonds or produce the smuggled product in with legitimate product so as to make it unidentifiable. Any attempt to shift blame from the principle actors, the RUF, the Sierra Leone army and Charles Taylor (and perhaps certain large european diamond companies) is ridiculous. However this tack is kept to a minimum in an otherwise enjoyable movie.

I hope the peace that has been achieved in Sierra Leone is a lasting one.