NAME: Atsem Benjamin Yaw
COURSE: English 352 – 451-11730 Technical Writing INSTRUCTOR: Prof.Carol Johnson
Topic: Effects of Wars and Conflicts on Liberia and Sierra Leone’s Development and Economic Growth” Description of Writing and Reasons: The topic I chose for Wikipedia Essay is “ The Effects of Wars and Conflict on Liberia and Sierra Leone’s Development and Economic Growth”
Wars have brought untold hardship and discomfort to the people wherever it has been fought
and been experienced especially on the African Continent.
I chose this topic because as an African decent, though my country of birth Ghana has
seen a stable political climate for almost 15 years and has not seen any war or conflict even though after it gained its independence from Great Britain on 6th March, 1957 it has seen coups
and military regimes for almost 30years. All Ghanaians have seen that taking up arms willn’t
improve the lives of its people and the entire nation’s development.
Africa the richest continent in terms of natural resources but yet still is the poorest
continent on the surface of the earth as a result of wars and conflicts.
Conflicts in Africa has caused so much havoc from Sierra Leone , Liberia , Chad , Nigeria , Rwanda , Uganda , Ivory Coast , Somalia , Angola and now Darfur in Sudan.
One of the most devastating wars occurred in Liberia and Sierra Leone where a few people in their taste to seek the high office of the land through foul mains
were able to use the countries resources to buy arms and initiate and start conflicts. The sale of diamonds in Sierra Leone in what was termed as “Blood Diamonds “was used to
pay for the cost of the war in Sierra Leone and as such rendered the nation to be one of
the poorest in the World through as a result of the war and conflict. Sierra Leone’s eight year conflict is a complex one that has its roots in years of poverty and misrule and the unrest in neighboring Liberia.
While this war was going on in Sierra Leone a similar war was going on in neighboring Liberia where again the rebels used the sale of diamonds to pay for the war. Libyan-trained
Charles G. Taylor invaded Liberia from Ivory Coast with his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) with assistance of regular soldiers from Burkina Faso, and mass recruits from the Mano and Gio ethnic groups.This anarchy and civil war has devastated the economy and destroyed all of Liberia’s infrastructure-houses, schools, clinics, roads and bridges which will take decades to be rebuilt.
I again chose this topic because, no where in the world has wars and arm
conflicts brought economic growth and industrial development, and for that matter Sierra Leone and Liberia will only grow economically and developmentally if all these conflicts and wars stop and we able to use all these natural resources to build the bright future for the next generation to have a better life under a stable democratic government where the rule of law is supreme.
Finally, I chose this topic because the wars and conflict in Sierra Leone
and Liberia are interrelated and such has made these countries to loose most of the educated people who would have stayed in the country to develop and who would have been the backbone to help the country grow industrially, academically and economically. These conflicts and wars in Africa has brought suffering to women , children and the elderly where most of these women and kids have been raped by rebels and also agriculture which is the backbone of most African countries has declined , thereby limiting food production to feed the people as a result of wars and conflict.