Tribalism: A fuel of the Sierra Leonean civil war

By Fatmata Tidankay Kamara (ATJLF/MRCG Fellow 2025)

Sierra Leone, a nation known for its riches and tolerance, has been fighting a disease that does not seem to go away: tribalism.

Tribalism has impacted the country’s development by undermining accountability, transparency, and equality. The Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) is a measure of the development status and governance of political and economic transformation processes in developing and transition countries around the world. The BTI analyses and evaluates whether and how developing countries and countries in transition are steering social change toward democracy and a market economy. Its 2024 report about Sierra Leone stated that; “Ethnic favoritism has characterized the rule of the two major parties in Sierra Leone, with ethnicity and political preference determining access to resources. When the SLPP took over in 2018, it accused the former ruling party, the APC, of tribalism. A few years into his reign, President (Julius Maada) Bio was accused of favoring southeasterners.”