Post-election scenario worries ICG

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has expressed concern over the post-election scenario in Sierra Leone, saying President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah needs to broaden the government, defuse renewed ethnic tensions and speed up reforms of the security structures.

In a report titled "Sierra Leone After Elections: Politics as Usual?" and released on Monday, the ICG said there were "many questions about the fairness of the May electoral process and the level of fraud and coercion that shrouded it".

"[It] revealed potentially dangerous divisions between the army and Kabbah’s ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party. A large majority of the security forces voted for his opponents, indicating some animosity between the executive branch and the armed forces," ICG said. The elections, it added, demonstrated that ethnic tensions remained significant.

"[There is] need for a more inclusive government. Kabbah's party swept votes across the South and East while its main rival, the All People’s Congress party, maintained its stronghold in the North. The results left Sierra Leone dangerously close to single party rule, with an executive branch and a parliament heavily dominated by the ruling party," ICG said.

It said Kabbah had done little to establish a cabinet that was broad based, inclusive and designed to promote the goals of national reconciliation.

The new government, it added, has six months before the start of the dry season, when conflict could resume, to reform the security forces. "There are still considerable question marks concerning the capability of the security forces to secure the country and the capacity of local militias to challenge their authority."

The ICG stressed that the international community needed to keep protecting the peace process in Sierra Leone. "Renewed conflict in neighbouring Liberia reinforces the need for the UN Mission in Sierra Leone and the British military and police training teams to remain," it said. "President Charles Taylor of Liberia retains destabilising regional ambitions and the tools to pursue them, including RUF (Revolutionary United Front) insurgents and Kamajor militias now inside Liberia that he can redirect against Sierra Leone’s still fragile peace structures."

The report urged Kabbah to promote reconciliation and fight corruption. "The international community’s priority has so far been to ensure “security first”, but now it has to be as rigorous in demanding better governance and accountability from the government," it said. "Overlooking corrupt practices by the ruling party would only produce fertile ground for renewed conflict."

The UN mandate in Sierra Leone should be kept robust and focused while a contact group, including Nigeria, the UK, France and the US, should be set up to "align positions on the interlocking crises engulfing the Mano River region [Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone] and in particular to bring all stakeholders in Liberia’s civil war to the peace table", the ICG recommended.

It also called for funding for key institutions in Sierra Leone - the new Anti-Corruption Commission, Special Court, and Truth and Reconciliation Commission - and urged the government to separate the office of the attorney general from that of the minister of justice "in order to limit political influence in prosecutorial decisions".

The full report is available at: http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=698