Sierra Leone’s Slide into Silence: The Abuse of Power That Could Reignite a Nation’s Pain.

By Zainab Sunkary Koroma (ATJLF/MRCG Fellow 2025)

Two decades ago, Sierra Leone clawed its way back from the brink. Today, we’re standing dangerously close to the edge once again. In 2002, Sierra Leone emerged from an 11-year civil war scarred, but hopeful. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established that same year, didn’t mince words: the conflict was not merely about guns and diamonds, it was a product of chronic abuse of power, institutional rot, and the betrayal of citizens by their own leaders.

Now in 2025, the warning signs are blinking red once again. The TRC’s final report, a landmark 500-page investigation into the war’s root causes, pointed to corruption, marginalization of youth, erosion of democracy, and resource exploitation as the drivers of civil breakdown. Politicians looted state coffers with impunity, youth, jobless and ignored, became easy prey for rebel recruiters, elections were routinely manipulated, opposition voices crushed, diamond-rich regions were mined dry, yet communities remained destitute. Fast forward to today, and the parallels are chilling.