MERCENARIES OF DEMOCRACY: THE ‘POLITRICKS’ OF REMOBILIZED COMBATANTS IN THE 2007 GENERAL ELECTIONS, SIERRA LEONE - (A REFLECTION!)
MERCENARIES OF DEMOCRACY: THE ‘POLITRICKS’ OF REMOBILIZED COMBATANTS IN THE 2007 GENERAL ELECTIONS, SIERRA LEONE - BY : MAYA M. CHRISTENSEN AND MATS UTAS A frican Affairs, 107/429, 515–539 doi: 10.1093/afraf/adn057 C The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal African Society. All rights reserved Advance Access Publication 17 September 2008 ABSTRACT The 2007 general elections in Sierra Leone marked a decisive moment in the country’s post-war recovery. In this article we show how political parties strategically remobilized ex-combatants into ‘security squads’ in order both to protect themselves and to mobilize votes. We look at the tactical and strategic motives behind ex-combatants’ choice to join the political campaigning and the alternatives (such as ‘watermelon politics’), and we also examine the deep distrust between politicians and ex-combatants. Focusing on politics as the domestication of violence, we shed light on the continuation o