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Rebel Army Could Sabotage Democratic Reforms

by Julian Lahai Samboma
RENETIC politicking has followed the national referendum in Sierra Leone which produced a vote for abolition of the one-party slate. Hardly a week has gone by since a multi-party constitutional bill was passed in October without a mass rally organised by one political party or another.
In a country where rival parties were banned for over a decade, public response has been enthusiastic, to put it mildly.
Prominent among the parties are the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). which led the country to indepen dence in 1961. and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). composed primarily of former members of the ruling All People s Congress (APC).
The political activity has unnerved the government of General Saidu Momoh. prompting him to begin a major reorganisation of the APC in an attempt to give It a facelift.
Reports of intimidation and beatings of members of rival parties by APC government supporters have also surfaced in several parts of the country. A PDP statement said “a group of thugs" was organised during a meeting at the APC headquarters in Freetown, the cap! tai, to Intimidate opposition activists.
The Globe newspaper also expressed concern: The political race is on. and already there are indications that some parlies and institutions do not want to play by the rules of the game
The Arc's heavy-handed strategy culminated in 1978 with the declaration of a one-party state.
, "Diis year, the APC government was finally persuaded to open up the nation's political system. Its hand had been force by mass protests and violent demonstrations over, worsening economic conditions, the re-emergencc of ethnic rivalry — which Stevens, despite his faults, had all but eliminated — and an Invasion of Sierra Leone by Liberianbased rebels last March.
Momoh, a former military chief catapulted into the lead ership of both party and country by Stevens in 1985, has already expelled 15 prominent APC members for "undermining" the party.
Shortly after the expulsions, three ministers resigned, forcing Momoh to shuffle his cabinet. If these own-goals are anything to go by. APC members cannot dissociate themselves from the party fast enough.
As they leave, former APC stalwarts are regrouping to form new political organisations.
One alarming aspect of these political developments is
the dearth of new-breed politicians. The overwhelming majority of politicians who have thrown their hats Into the ring are old hands, often discredited as corrupt and opportunistic.
Another disturbing development has been the exploitation of latent ethnic rivalries by unscrupulous politicians. The Ekutay "social club" of Momoh's northern Limba ethnic group, which requires that one be a Limba to join, has gained prominence in recent months. Another "social club." the Temne National Union, was formed recently to "safeguard the interests of the Temne, who account for 30 per cent of the population.
One leading light of the Temne union is multi-millionaire businessman Paul Kamara, who. it is said, has been hand-
picked by Momoh as a vice-presidential running mate. Some northerners defend such unabashedly ethnic based orga nlsattons by saying that "everybody knows that the SLPP is the southerners' party."
Though multi-party elections are scheduled for October or November of next year, no one can say for certain whether they will take place al all, since large chunks of the country's eastern and southern provinces are still occupied by any-government rebels. As long as they remain, it is inconceivable that elections could be held in those areas
An allied force of Sierra Leonean, Guinean and Libe-rian-refugee troops has proved unable to dislodge the
rebels, members of Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front, who arc backed by the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, led by Charles Taylor.
In September the allied troops seized from the rebels the strategic Mano River Bridge on the Sierra Leone-Liberia border. But in the following month, the guerrillas recaptured the bridge and have held it ever since. Some 150,000 refugees have fled the fighting by crossing the border into Guinea.
With the economy tottering towards collapse, workers and students have staged several strikes to protest against harsh economic conditions. By early November, schools and colleges had yet to reopen follow-
ing summer holidays. Teachers are refusing to return to work unless their wages, already several months in arrears. are paid.
College students are also refusing to return to class unless the government reduces their fees. The APC government Is beset with criticism from all sides.
Since a decisive military defeat of the rebels Is nowhere Is sight, the only hope for peace — and prompt multiparty elections — in Sierra Leone is if Charles Taylor's support for Sankoh's forces can be neutralised.
This may be too much to hope for, given Taylor's record of scuppering all the peace initiatives brokered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Like their Liberian neighbours, the people of Sierra Leone appear to have become the hostages of Charles Thylor.
— GEMINI NEWS
JULIAN LAI1AI SAMBOMA, a Sierra Leonean Journalist, works as a correspondent for New African, Africa Analysts and African Concord.