According to the United Nations, “the collapse of state authority, erosion of basic services, marginalization and exclusion of youth and women and endemic poverty over several decades were significant contributing factors to Sierra Leone's decade of war” which lasted from1991 until 2002.
December 2009
The Niger Delta: Crisis Prevention or Post-conflict Reconstruction?
Events in the last three decades seem to indicate that the international community prefers post-conflict mediation and reconstruction, rather than crisis prevention. This appears to be the case especially by western governments. On the surface at least, instead of investing in crisis prevention, governments and institutions hedge their bets, measure domestic pulses, and engage in endless debates and diplomatic niceties insofar as a looming disaster is concerned.
