Building paths to peace: Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement
Voluntary peace monitor Amadu Wundu, who was a Kamajor fighter during Sierra Leone's war. Photos © Rosalind Hanson-Alp.
Kamajor ex-combatants from Georma-Jargo who
have benefited from BPRM’s reintegration programme.
Case study: Amadu Wundu, voluntary peace monitor
“A Kamajor ex-combatant who was born here but was afraid to come back, wrote to ask me if I would talk to his people to forgive and accept him. I did and they agreed to take him back so I collected him from the Liberian border, promising nothing would happen to him. Up to now, his people like me because I brought their child back to them. He has the same respect for BPRM that I do.”
Amadu Wundu believes honesty and speaking truths is an important part of his life. Formerly a combatant with the Kamajor forces, Amadu is now a self-confessed convert to solving conflicts with words.
Amadu Wundu lives in Georma-Jargo, Sowa chiefdom, a large village in the southern province. In 2002 BPRM were asked to intervene in a conflict between youths and the elders of Sowa. Many young people were Kamajor fighters and still carried their weapons. Kamajors were a nationally organized group of civilians trained in traditional warfare to protect their communities from the rebel forces. Amadu describes how young people felt empowered by their weapons “we had guns and didn’t have to listen to the elders. When I had a gun, I was a different man and would easily get into violent fights”. In turn, the elders feared and rejected the youths, using their regained positions of power to discriminate against young people by issuing high-level fines in court cases. Amadu held a senior position among the Kamajors who defended Sowa but felt that “many people were ungrateful for what we did and even jealous of our power”.
BPRM started gathering people, encouraging talk and offering food on a single table where both elders and youths would sit together. This gesture of goodwill is more than sustenance, it is considered by most communities as a true sign of sincerity and neutrality, adding to the belief that eating together is a mark of friendship.
Once dialogue was open, BPRM invited both Kamajors and elders to train as voluntary peace monitors that would form the Chiefdom Peace and Reconciliation Committee. Amadu believes that the training showed elders that the court system of levying fines for young people was partly responsible for the generational divide that is considered one of the root causes of the war. He also believes that it taught young Kamajors how to deal with their aggression.
There is no doubt it has changed life in Sowa. Chiefs no longer issue high fines and mutual respect is evident. For Amadu, his life has been transformed. “I say the truth and believe in honesty. I have worked as a voluntary peace monitor since 2002 and know that when you talk peace between two people you have to lead by example, otherwise your message will not go through.”
