The meaning of a militia: Understanding the civil defence forces of Sierra Leone

Hoffman, Danny

doi:10.1093/afraf/adm054

Cited by 110 publications

(53 citation statements)

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“…Interviewees stated that youth in some Abidjan neighborhoods established self‐defense groups to protect their communities from the advancing rebel force (Interviews with Medie, Ampain, May 2011). Hunter groups in Sierra Leone became the Civilian Defense Force (CDF) to protect their communities against the rebel force, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), during the country's 1991–2002 civil war (Hoffman ). Men formed armed groups in Darfur to protect their communities (Bellamy and Williams ), and in the Kitgum district of northern Uganda, armed men and adolescent males were part of a force that provided protection to villagers (Stites ).…”

Section: Overlooking Civilian Agency and Local Communities As “New Acmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Why and How Civilians Resort to Self-Protection in Armed Conflict

Jose

Medie

2015

Int Stud Rev

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The absence and limitations of civilian protection efforts have contributed to civilians in conflict zones adopting a variety of strategies to protect themselves from physical violence. These self‐protection efforts have sometimes saved individuals and communities from violence and engendered a level of security. Nonetheless, the civilian protection literature and community have largely underestimated the importance of these self‐protection strategies. This article traces the growth of the civilian protection regime and interrogates the absence of civilian self‐protection therein. It reviews the emerging self‐protection literature and offers a typology of civilian self‐protection strategies. Additionally, this article sheds light on how self‐protection strategies might undermine civilian protection, particularly when they contribute to civilian targeting during armed conflict. It also proposes ways in which this typology can be extended to foster theory building and can inform traditional civilian protection efforts.

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Section: Overlooking Civilian Agency and Local Communities As “New Acmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Why and How Civilians Resort to Self-Protection in Armed Conflict

Jose

Medie

2015

Int Stud Rev

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“…To begin with, it is important to stress, that the CDF is understood as a militia that was -raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency‖ 82 and not as a military organisation or conventional army. 83 Following Hoffman's (2007) detailed, and to an extent also anthropological, study of the CDF's social fabrics, the CDF exemplifies much more the militarisation of a social network.…”

Section: Civil Society Actors After Independence and During The Warmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peace building and the depoliticisation of civil society: Sierra Leone 2002–13

Datzberger

2015

Third World Quarterly

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“…With the exception of Charles Taylor, who was arrested in 2006, Norman was the most high profile military‐political leader to be arrested by the Special Court. The CDF was a pro‐government militia that had fought against the rebels of the RUF and the renegade soldiers of the AFRC (Hoffman, ), and which was committed to re‐establishing the democratically elected government of President Kabbah. CDF was actually an umbrella term for several ethnic militias that had emerged during the early and mid‐1990s to defend local communities from attacks by the RUF rebels and marauding government soldiers.…”

Section: Arrested Developments: the Special Court Indicteesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitional Justice, States of Emergency and Business as Usual in Sierra Leone

Anders¹

2014

Development and Change

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This article situates the establishment of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the wider context of the country's transitional period between 1999 and 2004. During this pivotal period, Sierra Leone experienced a massive state-building intervention to establish the rule of law and introduce democracy. However, this new beginning was characterized by violent clashes between the leaders of the various warring factions who tried to secure political influence and security after the signing of the Lomé Peace Agreement in 1999. The article examines events that resulted in the unravelling of the peace agreement, the establishment of the Special Court and the arrests of hundreds of suspected rebels under a state of emergency, to show how they undermined the lofty promises of justice made by the representatives of the Special Court and the international community. It reveals the limited scope of the retributive project of international criminal justice at the intersections with the business-as-usual political manoeuvres that occurred after the end of the civil war.

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The meaning of a militia: Understanding the civil defence forces of Sierra Leone

Cited by 110 publications

References 0 publications

Understanding Why and How Civilians Resort to Self-Protection in Armed Conflict

Understanding Why and How Civilians Resort to Self-Protection in Armed Conflict

Peace building and the depoliticisation of civil society: Sierra Leone 2002–13

Transitional Justice, States of Emergency and Business as Usual in Sierra Leone

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