Paul Richards
Steven Archibald
Khadija Bah
James Vincent1

...en de burgemeester zei: \u201cdat van de duizend ducaten, dat was natuurlijk maar en grapje. Je hebt goed gedaan, maar honderd ducaten is meer dan genoeg...\u201d \u201cWeet wat je doet\u201d zei de vreemdeling....Geen van de kinderen keerde ooit weer terug.

(And the Town Chief said \u201cthe thousand dollars [we offered to pay you to remove the rats], that naturally was a joke, you have done well, but a hundred dollars is more than enough\u201d \u201cBe aware of what you are doing\u201d said the Stranger...And none of the children ever came back again.)

Executive summary.................................................................................4
2.1 Two \u2018Thematic\u2019 Recommendations:..............................................................6
2.2 Four Specific Recommendations..................................................................6
3. Introduction..............................................................................................8
4. Methodological Considerations........................................................................8
5. Scope and content of the report......................................................................8
6. The importance of understanding the mood of ex-combatants..................................9
7. The purpose of the study...............................................................................9
8.The approach........................................................................................... 10
9. A brief history of the war............................................................................ 10
10. The war as a crisis of rural youth.................................................................. 11
11. Demobilization........................................................................................ 12
12. Entry qualification................................................................................... 12
13. Exclusion and alienation; implications of the entry qualification criteria.................. 12
14. Some basic data on disarmament................................................................. 12
15. Skills training......................................................................................... 13
18. A lost generation..................................................................................... 15
19. The CDF................................................................................................ 16
20. The nature and mood of the CDF.................................................................. 16
21. The CDF in demobilization.......................................................................... 17
22. RUF fighting women................................................................................. 18
Case Study 1: The signaller\u2019s tale...................................................................... 18
23. RUF \u201cbush wives\u201d.................................................................................... 18
24. \u2018Agrarian servitude\u2019................................................................................. 19
25. Diamond work: ex-combatants in Tongo Field.................................................. 20
26. Diamond servitude? Ex-combatants in Kono..................................................... 20
27. Self-demobilisation, anonymity and subsistence:............................................... 21
28. Fear of the Special Court........................................................................... 23
29. Self-integration: new occupational solidarities................................................. 24
30. Occupational interest groups: the Bike Renter\u2019s Associations................................ 24
31. Opportunists, ideologues and victims............................................................. 25
32. A CDF group revisited................................................................................ 25
33. General conclusion................................................................................... 27
34. Specific conclusions.................................................................................. 28
35. Recommendations.................................................................................... 28
References................................................................................................. 33
Annex 1:.................................................................................................... 35
Table 1: Civil Defence Forces of Sierra Leone, summary of nominal roll and arms
statistics, Kenema District.............................................................................. 35
Annex 2:.................................................................................................... 37
Table 2: ex-combatant representation in clubs and associations affiliated to
Independent Youth Forum (Bo Branch), at 14th September 2003................................. 37
Annex 3: Background to the demobilisation process; 1995-1998.................................. 38
Annex 4: Recruitment and return - the picture in some Liberian border localities............ 39
Annex 5: The symbolic significance of the training packages; a ritual of
demobilization. ........................................................................................... 42
Annex 6: Three ex-combatant agriculture projects................................................. 44
Annex 7: The tale of two sisters........................................................................ 45
Annex 8: Interviews with ex-RUF women (trainees, Praise Foundation, Makeni).............. 47
Annex 9: Legal literacy; Bo Bike Renters Association............................................... 49