Mason+-+ASID+-+SP13


 * __Identify their character:__ ** Foday Sankoh, who was the leader of the Revolutionary United Front. He was attempting to take over the government and take control of mining the blood diamonds.


 * __Identify the country which their character represents:__ ** The country that Foday represents is Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is located in westernmost part of Africa, and bordering countries of Liberia and Guinea. It is mostly dry and humid area, with some mountains in the east. Most natural hazards are dust storms and sandstorms, and due to natural resources a civil war broke out, also rapid population growth is pressuring the environment. The population of Sierra Leone is 5,485,998 according to July 2012. English is the official language, the regular use of it is limited. Mende is spoken in the south and Temne is mainly spoken in the north. There are two main ethnic groups and they are Temne and the Mende. Sierra Leone as a country is very poor with extreme inequality in income distribution. Though it does have natural resources, farming, and fishing, the physical state is still recovering from the devastating civil war, and serious social disorders continue to stall economic development. Some of their agricultural products are rice, coffee, cocoa, peanuts, palm kernel, palm oil, poultry, cattle, pigs, and fish. One of the countries big industries is the mining of diamonds.


 * __Identify the character's previous occupation and other pertinent background information:__ ** Before leading the RUF Foday was a corporal in the Sierra Leone Army, he served from 1956 to 1971, Foday was later imprisoned for seven years for taking part in a mutiny. After his release he work as a internet photographer for east and south of Sierra Leone. Eventually Foday came in contact with young radicals and quickly found his way to Libya for insurgency training in the year 1988. This was led by Gaddafi, and they had the same idea in mind, that was to mine the diamond fields. They wanted to torture the citizens by amputation of the arms and legs of men, women, and children. Gaddafi continuously reviewed their progress and supplied the RUF rebels with weapons.


 * __Identify 3 references that reflect your character's ideas:__ ** One person who supports Foday is Gaddafi. I say this because he trust that Foday will always bring in money from the diamonds mining, and Gaddafi knows that Foday will led the rebels to victory. Another supporter of Foday is a man named Charles taylor. Charles Taylor was another supplier of weapons for Foday and his rebel group. In return the rebels would pay Taylor in diamonds that were worth millions. If he was willing to give Foday weaponry and supplies, there is no doubt that he trusted Foday in what he was doing. Another supporter is Jonas Savimbi, who was a leader UNITA. What they did was, he hired illegal miners to find the diamonds. Before all of this he was political leader. Foday and Jonas would connect very well because he could give Foday illegal miners and in return Foday could pay him in diamonds.


 * __How does your character measure against the four benchmarks set by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation:__ **
 * __Safety and Rule of Law:__ ** During the civil war period, safety was at an all time low in the country. Foday sent people to constantly murder and rape men, women, and children. Property rights is a big part of the safety and rule of law category. Foday completely ignored this right. He once set a mission for the rebels called “operation pay yourself”, during this process, the RUF rebels would go into the towns and villages and loot anything they could find, and take it. But since the civil war has ended, civil society has flourished with help from organizations providing multiple services to assist in reconstruction and development, including health, mental rights, human rights and democratic development. Sierra Leone scored a 57 in safety and rule of law and they are steadily increasing.


 * __Participation and Human Rights:__ ** When Foday was leading the rebels, he ordered them to do some horrific things to the community and society. He denied the people of human rights. He discriminated women and made innocent children into child soldiers. Another human right that Foday violated was workers rights. He would make men, women, and children work in the mining fields. Since the crisis in the country recent elections have all been completely fair and all citizens were able to vote for who they wanted. Although there is still one problem. In recent years, women have been unequal to men, and some have been even abducted. Sierra Leone is currently ranked 55 in the participation and human rights category.


 * __Sustainable Economic Opportunity:__ ** If anything people during the civil war era were not competing for jobs, they were basically hiding from an occupation. I say this because, really the only job was to be forced to work in the diamond mining fields. Today most people in Sierra Leone are focused on farming and that makes up 42% of the countries income. Sierra Leone is very rich in minerals and for a long time they have been relying on diamonds in particular. Many of the diamond mining throughout the 90’s have been smuggled out and used to fund the rebel activity in the region ,such as money laundering, arms purchases, and to fund other illicit activities. In recent efforts of the country to improve the exporting of the diamonds has met somewhat of a success. In 2000 a newUN approved export system for exporting diamonds from Sierra Leone was put into place that led to a increase in legal exports. Sierra Leone currently ranks 41.


 * __Human Development:__ ** The human development trend continues to increase. The current life expectancy of the citizens is 48 years old, and adults get an average of 3 years of schooling. Although this is improving, it is very sad to see that they are only ranked 39. In the middle of this category, health is its centerpiece. They don’t have much access to get to healthcare. Another interesting fact is that just 25% of women in Sierra Leone are literate. Also, of every 100,000 births 1,800 women die, while one in four children die before they reach age five. In education, just half of Sierra Leone schools are functioning, and secondary school attendance is just at 44%. As you can see, human development is very much lacking in Sierra Leone, that is why they are only ranked a mer 39.