| This study examines challenges of peacebuilding and democracy consolidation efforts in Sierra Leone. Using the Lome Peace Accord of July 1999 as its point of departure, the study utilizes dual concepts of restorative and retributive justice to explain the activities and practical impact of two accountability mechanisms---the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Special Court---on efforts at building peace and consolidating democracy in Sierra Leone.; The study traces the origins of the conflict and provides an overview of the current state of affairs in Sierra Leone. It further analyzes the intervention of West African peacekeeping forces, ECOMOG, to restore the democratically elected government to office, following its overthrow in a military coup in 1997. I argue that from an international legal perspective, the use of force in that case was justified. The study also examines the role of two key international actors---the United States and the United Nations---in the Lome peace process. I argue that the process leading to the Lome Peace Accord was inevitably flawed largely because of the international community's insistence on a "power-sharing" model that emphasized reconciliation, as opposed to retribution. That double standard, the study suggests, must be acknowledged by those actors as a failed approach to resolving the conflict.; I further argue that the collapse of the Accord in May 2000, gave the international community an opportunity to extricate itself from past failure to support a holistic approach to peace in Sierra Leone. The establishment of a Special Court, along with a TRC, to revisit the past, directly confronts a culture of impunity that predates the conflict. The research finds that the activities of these bodies are bound to have political and possibly military consequences, both domestically as well as in the sub-region. However, I argue that though the processes are complex and obviously controversial, in the long run, both the TRC and the Special Court will serve beneficial purposes to the reconstitution of state-society relations in Sierra Leone.; The study also compares the two transitional mechanisms to other similar institutions established in South Africa and Rwanda, to deal with past abuses. It finally examines the specific case of ex-children soldiers and how they are featured in the accountability processes. The study concludes by offering recommendations for political, judicial and security reforms, warning that unless certain benchmarks are met, the opportunity to build peace and consolidate recent democratic gains will be lost. |
