Security Sector Reform In Sierra Leone, Aiming For Resilience, But Stuck Between Structural And Local Needs

Security interventions in Sierra Leone have yielded significant results, following the end of civil war in 2002. The transition from community aid to post-conflict development, which involved robust peace-securing efforts by the UK, EU, AU, the Sierra Leonean government, and the UN, have emphasized the major impact of Security Sector Reform (SSR) and its capacity to prevent conflict spill-overs, thus facilitating the creation of conducive conditions to cooperation with neighboring countries. Our aim is to explain the dynamics of Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone as a successful model of intervention, providing arguments on the efficiency of the reform carried out with the support of donor states and International organisations, but accompanied by a strong allingment of the local entrepreneurs around the main pillars for democractic reform: defence, justice and rule of law. The positive outcomes resulting from the recent security governance framework in Sierra Leone are currently consolidating state`s authority and also managed to address the root causes that led to the conflict in the first place, mainly the competition over resources and political exclusion.