Critical Examination of Food Security-Insecurity in Postwar Sierra Leone

Abstract

Sierra Leone experienced violent conflict between 1991 and 2002. The carnage and bloodletting that occurred during those 11 years became one of West Africa’s worst post-Cold War tragedies. Once regarded as a small state with great potential in the subregion because of its rigorous and highly respected educational system and its relatively large natural resource base, it instead degenerated into the category of failed and collapsed states. In 2002, the internecine conflict that had displaced about two million people and resulted in the deaths of about 70,000 was followed by Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) activities for combatants and refugees.’ It could be argued that insecurity related to carnage and bloodletting has been eradicated because the physical and military violence that emanated from the neighboring and subregional countries of Liberia, Burkina Faso, and even Libya have all been eliminated.