brutalised and join in an orgy of mutilation,
hacking off limbs of men, women and even chil-
dren. There is nowhere to flee to safety.
In Liberia, Charles Taylor who led the rebel
movement won an ‘election’ organised in a peace
deal in 1997. The ruthless rebel leader was meta-
morphosed overnight into a president and head
of state with all the trappings of legitimacy, a gov-
ernment, ambassadors and a representative at the
UN. But the man had not changed. His power
was not undisputed when another rebel group
attacked to seize the fruits of power. They fought
to oust Taylor and committed atrocities on the
helpless villagers in their path. To gain control of
diamonds Taylor armed another set of murder-
ous rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Belatedly
an international mediating group of Britain,
France and a number of African countries have
tried to broker peace between Taylor and the
rebels in Liberia who hold large parts of the
country in their grip. The struggle for diamonds
continues to blight the whole region. One in ten
of Liberia’s population have fled from their
homes. The capital Monrovia is a city in ruins.
In August 2003 the Nigerian-led West African
peace force returned with US support under UN
auspices and Taylor, facing a war crime trial,
departed for a comfortable exile in Nigeria. The
road to peace is hazardous but conditions could
not get worse.
The 1990s were also disastrous for Sierra Leone,
rent by civil war. The Nigerians were the largest
component of West African peacekeeping forces
which kept fighting in check for most of the
decade. When they left United Nations peace-
keepers from thirty-one countries were unable to
stop renewed carnage and soon UN soldiers were
trapped by rebel militia which approached the
outskirts of Freetown. The ill-organised Sierra
Leone army was close to collapse. In May 2000
Britain sent paratroops and marines to stop and
turn back the rebel advance. Washington in a deal
with Taylor secured the release of the detach-
ment. The rebels in Sierra Leone controlled the
diamond mines, and were supported by Taylor
who provided an outlet for illicit diamond sales,
profiting in the process. The diamond earnings
provided the rebels with arms. The rebels control
large areas of the country by committing atroci-
ties and a reign of terror whose most visible evi-
dence are the stumps of amputated legs and hands
of the people considered, at a whim, to be
enemies.
1
THE END OF WHITE RULE IN WEST AFRICA 737
Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia, 2000
Population (millions) GDP (US$ millions) GDP per head, Purchasing
Power Parity (US$)
Ghana 19.3 5,200 1,900
Sierra Leone 4.4 600 500
Nigeria 113.9 41,100 800
Liberia 2.9 400 1,000
