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Dispute Resolution Committee – 1996

The accord called for the establishment of a Commission for the Consolidation of Peace to verify implementation and make policy recommendations which were to be binding. The Commission for the Consolidation of Peace was reported as having been established in December of 1996. The commission was expected to begin its work in establishing six “committees which amongst other things will oversee the encampment and disarmament of soldiers.” A four-men RUF team and three former ministers and a senior advisor to Kabbah made up the commission. The RUF delegation to the commission came to Freetown for talks at least once on 19 December 1996.¹

Beyond that initial meeting, the committee never became operational and did not meet again. Sources describe the event as a ploy by RUF to buy some time while they consolidated their military forces for a final push.²

1. “Sierra Leone rebels come to capital for talks,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, December 19, 1996.
2. Kendra Dupuy and Helga Malmin Binningsbø, “Power-sharing and Peace-building in Sierra Leone: Power-sharing Agreements, Negotiations and Peace Processes,” CSCW Policy Brief 7 (Oslo: PRIO/CSCW, 2007).