• by Lansana Fofana (freetown)
• Friday, December 30, 1994
• Inter Press Service

FREETOWN, Dic 30 (IPS) - PROSPECTS FOR AN EARLY TRANSITION TO CIVILIAN RULE APPEAR DIM AS SIERRA LEONE'S FOUR MILLION PEOPLE BRACE THEMSELVES FOR THE CONTINUATION OF A FOUR-YEAR OLD REBEL WAR AND ECONOMIC WOES.

"THIS YEAR WAS A DISASTER," SAYS MICHAEL SESAY, A POLITICAL ANALYST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE, SUMMING UP THE FEELINGS OF MOST SIERRA LEONEANS.

HE ADDS: "THE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN UNABLE TO END THE REBEL WAR AS THEY PROMISED WHEN THEY SEIZED POWER TWO YEARS AGO. THEIR MUCH TALKED ABOUT TRANSITION TO CIVILIAN RULE HAS BEEN SERIOUSLY DELAYED AND AS SUCH I DON'T HAVE MUCH CONFIDENCE IN THE SYSTEM."

ECONOMIST ANSUMANA KOROMA LAMENTS THAT THE WEST AFRICAN COUNTRY EXPERIENCED ITS WORST YEAR ECONOMICALLY BECAUSE OF A NEGATIVE BALANCE OF PAYMENTS AS THE REBEL WAR SUCKED THE ECONOMY.

"GOVERNMENT'S INABILITY TO STRENGTHEN ITS EXPORT BASE HAS STUNTED THE GROWTH OF THE ECONOMY," ADDS THE ECONOMIST, WHO WORKS FOR A COMMERCIAL BANK HERE.

KOROMA SAYS THE WAR HAS BEEN PROLONGED BECAUSE GOVERNMENT TROOPS ARE UNABLE TO REACH THE AGRICULTURE AND MINERAL-RICH REGIONS WHICH ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE REVOLUTIONARY UNITED FRONT (RUF) REBELS.

ACCORDING TO SESAY, INSTEAD OF ABATING, THE WAR HAS ESCALATED, WITH FIGHTING IN ALL THREE PROVINCIAL DISTRICTS. IT HAS ALSO WHITTLED AWAY AT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND HOPES FOR A RAPID RETURN TO DEMOCRATIC RULE.

BECAUSE OF THE WAR, "PEOPLE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE COUNTRY, EDITORS WERE ARRESTED AND DETAINED SEVERAL TIMES AND THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF TRANSITION TO CIVILIAN RULE WAS BETRAYED," HE EXPLAINS.

THE NATIONAL PROVISIONAL RULING COUNCIL (NPRC), HEADED BY CAPT. VALENTINE STRASSER, EARLY THIS YEAR ANNOUNCED A TIMETABLE FOR A RETURN TO DEMOCRACY.

BUT LOCAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS, WHICH WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HELD FIVE MONTHS AGO, ARE STILL TO BE ORGANISED AND REGISTRATION OF VOTERS IS SIX MONTHS OVERDUE.

"WE HAVE ONLY ONE YEAR LEFT BEFORE THE MILITARY HANDS OVER TO CIVILIAN RULE AND I THINK THIS CANNOT BE MET. THE YEAR 1994 WASN'T PROPERLY USED TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF THE TRANSITION PROGRAMME," SAYS A POLITICAL OBSERVER, WHO REFUSED TO BE NAMED.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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