Abstract
Depuis la fin de la guerre civile en 2002, la population de Sierra Leone a bénéficié d’une paix relativement stable et on peut dire que civils et ex-combattants vivent en coexistence. Cependant, au cours de mon travail de terrain, j’ai été surprise de constater à quel point mes interlocuteurs parlaient d’une manière positive de la situation post-conflit. « On a oublié la guerre depuis longtemps » disaient certains, tandis que d’autres soutenaient qu’on leur avait demandé de « pardonner et d’oublier » et que, par conséquent, ils agissaient selon ce principe. D’autres personnes que j’ai rencontrées partagent cependant des sentiments négatifs à l’égard des ex-combattants, mais ils soutiennent en même temps qu’une telle coexistence est sans alternative. Alors que j’ai constaté dans plusieurs localités que les anciens combattants s’intègrent avec succès, ce label d’« ex-combattants » continue à disposer d’une connotation particulièrement négative. Intrigué par ces ambiguïtés, j’explore plus en détail dans cet article les différents modes de coexistence en Sierra Leone. Basé sur des données ethnographiques collectées durant un travail de terrain de huit mois, l’article décrit trois pratiques différentes de coexistence dans des régions rurales et urbaines du pays. L’accent mis sur la coexistence, à la différence d’autres termes normatifs tels que ceux de réconciliation et de réinsertion, couramment utilisés dans la littérature sur les contextes post-conflit, invite à réfléchir sur ces pratiques, plutôt qu'à évaluer ces différents arrangements du vivre ensemble.
Highlights
[Fr] Depuis la fin de la guerre civile en 2002, la population de Sierra Leone a bénéficié d’une paix relativement stable et on peut dire que civils et ex-combattants vivent en coexistence
The most instructive moments in ethnographic fieldwork are those when one faces contradictions : of literature and ‘field’, of people’s words and actions, but most importantly of one’s own assumptions and reality. This was the case during my fieldwork in Sierra Leone, ten years after the civil war had ended
There were communities that lived in peaceful coexistence, and yet villagers had personal, strongly negative feelings towards former combatants, causing me to wonder just how much reconciliation is needed after war : is such a mere ‘performance’ of coexistence not harmful for individuals ? Or, maybe, is ‘reconciliation’ asking too much of victims of extreme violence ?
Summary
The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted for about 11 years from 1991 to 20022. In March 1991 a group of fighters entered the eastern part of Sierra Leone from Liberia. Starting mostly in the south of the country, local hunter organisations (widely referred to as kamajors) were formed and took to defending their villages from both rebels and soldiers (Keen, 2005). In 1996, largely pushed for by civil society groups, democratic elections took place and a peace agreement was signed between rebels and the government. The kamajors had been formalised under the defense ministry and were fighting together with the peacekeepers the tactics they employed were sometimes indistinguishable from those of other fighting factions Once deployed outside their region of origin, they took to looting and killing as well. All armed groups took to forcibly recruiting combatants and other helpers, including women and children ; it has been estimated that there were more than 5,000 under-age combatants. Structural causes and contributing factors such as widespread corruption, bad governance, and importantly, youth unemployment are widely acknowledged
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