The one-day visit today to Sierra Leone by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)may not be unprecedented but is certainly a watershed. Apart from its obvious significance that the most important organ of the world body is visiting our country, it is further testament to the continued commitment of the UN to Sierra Leone.
The UN spent billions of US dollars on what was its largest peacekeeping mission in the world at the time – 17,800 troops – to help end the war, which was achieved in 2002. Since the war ended it has spent billions more in post-conflict reconstruction.
Today’s visit is also testament to the fact that the United Nations remains very active on and in Sierra Leone. There may not be war here to keep the peace as there is in Ivory Coast for the UNSC to visit, nor are there peacekeepers to drawdown as there are in Liberia. Yet the UNSC delegation is here.
It is a given that when war ends and peace begins to yield dividend and is the case in Sierra Leone, people often forget, very easily, those who helped them during their turbulence. Otherwise bouquets of flower would be awaiting the Security Council delegation as they touch down today at Lungi. Exactly the same reason we believe Sierra Leone does not accord Nigeria the respect and credit it deservesfor being the single most significant country that helped end our war.
But the fact we are at peace is not it all. Remember Martin Luther King Jr when he said “peace does not just mean the absence of war but the presence of justice”. We believe our country will not go to war at least in a generation. But the peace must be goaded. This is why we welcome the UNSC visit at this time, when the country braces up for elections in a few months, as the diatribe intensifies between political party belligerents. The stakes are becoming increasingly high. Iron ore is here, oil is on its way, politicians and their cronies are getting rattled and desperate. Both major political parties are to blame.
We urge the UN Security Council to send a tough and powerful message to our politicians to ensure they spare the people of this country another round of bloodletting –small or grand scale.
Civil society must be apolitical in hammering the point home in their meeting with the UN dele. The UN has spent so much resource –financial and human – to allow things to go awry. The people of this 100thmember nation of the UN, have suffered too much from war and political malaise to be left alone.
The UN must stay engaged, however difficult their relationship has been recently with the government as evident in the circumstances leading to the exit of the former UN envoy, Michael Von Der Schulenburg.
Once again, we welcome the UN Security Council delegation. We cannot ask for a higher-powered dele. Welcome!
