Military Reform – 1999

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Military Reform – 1999

1999

Intermediate Implementation Intermediate implementation

Military reform in Sierra Leone started well before the Lomé Agreement. “By September 1998, the government’s plans for reform of the army and police had taken shape. They involved an army of 5,000 (the army under the AFRC was at least twice as large) and rigorous screening of members of the old armed forces before they could be allowed to join. The government had also accepted advice from the Commonwealth Police Development Task Force (mainly funded by DFID) on radical reform of the police. At the same time the President made it clear that the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) would continue to play a key role in security.1

“The Sierra Leone government had explored many options in its drive to restructure and reform the armed forces. At one point, it considered the Costa Rica model — no army, but a well-trained and equipped police force. This option was not popular, in view of the security threat posed to Sierra Leone by the Liberian conflict and the then volatile Guinean security situation in the Mano River sub-region.2

“The UK developed various programmes to increase the effectiveness and accountability of the Sierra Leonean forces, including military training assistance, reintegration, and specific SSR measures designed to ensure that the security institutions had a sufficient legal basis. Though the greatest slice of these funds was devoted to the military training and assistance programmes, there was also a specific effort to implement legal and structural reforms. MOD-UK, MODAT and IMATT have also been involved in the training of future trainers of the AFRSL — platoon commanders and sergeants under the Short Term Training Teams (STTT). The 12-week training course focused on such key areas as international humanitarian law, civil—military relations, the rights of the child, budget management, and regional and sub-regional security” (Gbla 2006, 83).

  1. Brian Thomson, “Sierra Leone: Reform or Relapse? Conflict and Governance Reform.” Chatham House Report, 2007, accessed October 26, 2010, page 6, http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/9207_reportsierraleone0607.pdf.
  2. Gbla Osman, “Security sector reform under international tutelage in Sierra Leone,” International Peacekeeping 13, no.1 (2006): 83.