Banquet for warlords

The barbarity of the Revolutionary United Front during Sierra Leone's civil war is not to be underestimated, any more than the courage of peacekeepers and journalists who run the very real risk of being killed. It is no wonde r that Freetown lives in fear of rebels that, together with rogue soldiers, killed some six thousand people in January last year. But accounts of barb arism - and even human rights reports that are heavy on atrocities but ligh t on explanations - can easily spill over into a 're-primitivisation' of Af rica, helping to propel the international community into a 'fight or flight ' response. All the more reason to look carefully at some of the mundane an d comprehensible internal and external reasons for the 'anarchy', and at so me of the practical steps that could help to revive it.