SUMMARY
RUF (Revolutionary United Front), sometimes referred to as the Revolutionary United Front/Sierra Leone, was a violent insurgent group that operated in the West African state of Sierra Leone. The group did not arise as a rebel movement until late 1990 or early 1991, but the seeds for its creation had been sown years before, when its leader Foday Sankoh travelled to the Benghazi (Libya) in 1987 to be trained in guerrilla warfare by the revolutionary army of Libya’s Gaddafi. Sankoh and two close allies –Abu Kanu and Rashid Mansaray- returned from Libya in 1988 and attempted to recruit cadres in order to set up a revolutionary movement in Sierra Leone. Initially they were not successful, but things changed when they made contact with Charles Taylor’s newly created NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) in Sierra Leone’s southeast. When the NPFL had established its presence as a force to be reckoned with in Liberia it provided the RUF with the bases, weapons and the experienced fighters it needed to launch its own insurrection. The campaign against the Government of Sierra Leone began with the invasion of the Kailahun district in March 1991.
The goals of RUF were to overthrow the All People’s Congress (APC) regime that governed Sierra Leone, to ‘liberate’ the peasantry, destroy corruption, ensure an equitable distribution of the wealth of Sierra Leone’s natural resources and institute a multiparty democracy. The RUF, clearly identifying relevant grievances, however appears to not have created an ideology of its own, or have any real ideological underpinnings except for the ouster of the government. It is thus not possible to label the movement in any ideological category or outline its preferred policies except for taking the government’s place. In addition to engaging the army of Sierra Leona (SLA) in combat, RUF engaged in large-scale one-sided violence against civilians, forced conscription, rape, sexual slavery, looting and burning and the plundering of Sierra Leone’s vast diamond resources. The illicit mining and smuggling of diamonds (primarily through Liberia) was the key financial resource, and enabled RUF to pay for the war effort. The diamond mines are by some analysts also deemed to be, when the conflict had been up and running for some time, the actual cause of the continuance of the fighting. In the sphere of atrocities RUF reached worldwide notoriety for its habit of chopping of the hands and arms of civilians.
When the insurrection began RUF was composed only of a small number of insurgents, some being members of NPFL (on loan from Charles Taylor), others being from the small clique that trained in Libya, and the last group being composed of poor, unemployed and uneducated Sierra Leonean youths. RUF’s ranks soon swelled though, in part due to the voluntary enlistment of alienated youths, but mainly due to the forced conscription of young men and under-aged boys. Young women were also forcibly drafted into the movement, sometimes as fighters, but more often to act as ‘bush wives’, in reality the sexual property of RUF fighters. At its peak the RUF maintained probably as many as 15,000 men under arms, or in connection to the movement, and was part of Sierra Leone’s power-sharing government after the 1999 Lomé peace agreement. After the cessation of hostilities and demobilization stipulated in the Lomé agreement were reaffirmed in 2000 RUF transformed itself into a political party, and seized to exist as a rebel movement (approximately 2002).
During the conflict with the Government of Sierra Leone, RUF had a number of important links to and alliances with states and other rebel organisations. Of primary importance was RUF’s connection with Charles Taylor, the rebel leader of NPFL and Liberia’s President to be. Charles Taylor was key in RUF’s first invasion of Sierra Leone, and continued to be so throughout the conflict through his support to diamond smuggling, arms procurement, the granting of safe havens and bases and other subversive activities such as military intelligence. The Libyan connection with RUF is somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it is clear that Gaddafi trained some of the initial RUF leaders, at times provided funding and in general supported the ‘revolutionary’ movement in Sierra Leone. RUF’s links with Compaore’s Burkina Faso are also hazy, but Burkina Faso did provide arms for the RUF and aided diamond smuggling. It is believed by some that Burkina Faso also provided RUF with battle-hardened mercenaries for its campaigns. The connection to Burkina Faso may have had to do with Sankoh’s and Taylor’s friendship, since Taylor and some other Liberians were involved in the rebellion in Burkina Faso that brought Blaise Compaore –a friend of Taylor’s- to power in that country.
From early 1997 and onwards RUF also maintained a close alliance with AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council), which seized power in Sierra Leone in a coup. Johnny Paul Koroma (the AFRC leader) pronounced the end of the war, and his alliance with RUF, in May 1997, and made Sankoh Vice-Chairman of the movement, and consequently the government. After the ousting of this military junta in 1998 RUF and AFRC kept up their alliance, with the distinction between the two becoming ever more blurred, until AFRC in a way seized to exist in late 1999 after leaving the Lomé peace agreement.
The most prominent leader of RUF was Foday Sankoh, a former Sierra Leone Army corporal, who had been imprisoned by the APC government and harbored deep personal grievances against it for that reason. Sankoh had been associated with the opposition movements at Fourah Bay College in Free Town, but received his training and ideological education in Libya. RUF was formed by Sankoh in collaboration with Abu Kanu and Rashid Mansaray, two other men from Sierra Leone, and the three were the first leadership of RUF. Sankoh was the so-called head of ideology. His two colleagues were however executed in the early stages of the conflict, presumably at the behest of Sankoh, who then seized sole control of the movement. Sankoh grew to become the undisputed leader, sometimes referred to by those in the movement as “Papay” (father). During Sankoh’s first imprisonment (1997-1999) he maintained overall control of the movement, whilst Sam Bockarie controlled RUF’s forces on the ground. Sankoh was imprisoned again in 2000, and the RUF leadership fell to Issa Sesay, who led RUF into demobilization as per the terms of the Lomé peace agreement. Sankoh died in prison in 2003 whilst awaiting trial for war crimes.
RUF has been involved in the intra-state, non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
