Media & Peace Building in Sierra Leone

Winston Churchill once said “If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another”. Likewise, Mother Theresa once wrote “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” But above all, Mohandas Gandhi once famously said “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” These are appropriate quotes that are applicable to different contexts in different regions across the globe.
Sierra Leone is now seven years away from its bitter recent history of carnage and gross violations of basic human dignity and free expression. The rebel war was devastating, but now is the time to nurture and sustain the current relatively positive trajectory of peace building and non-violence advocacy. This can be done with massive contribution from the media, civil society and national government policy, with support from international community, which is directly affected by any regional disturbance in sub-Saharan Africa. More to come…