This is taking place despite recent pleas from Mr. Angelo to the various parties to discourage political violence within the country. 

At a recent Conference in Sierra Leone, Mr. Angelo stated that “continued occurrences of this nature are without doubt most unhelpful for the elections and I would like to use this forum to request political parties to disassociate themselves from all forms of political violence.”

Mr. Angelo is hoping that the various political parties within the country “will keep the national interest above everything else and exhibit during the campaigning period the democratic maturity that they have shown during the nomination phase, as well as during the previous stages of the electoral process.”

Despite these recent events, there remains reason to be cautiously optimistic that the elections will be completed peacefully.

The Partners have recently reminded the country that “the UN and international community remain fully committed to supporting credible, fair and violence-free elections.”

Along with international support, the United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) last week successfully trained almost 50 electoral officials within the Sierra Leonean government.

These 49 officials each head an electoral district that contains a total of 37,000 electoral staff that will see to that the elections are carried out in a peaceful and democratic manner.

Along with the proper training of election officials, the United Nations has allocated 35 million US dollars to various developmental projects (legal and health services) to assist with the redevelopment of the country and the consolidation of a democratic system of government in Sierra Leone.

Christian Holger Strohann, spokesman for UNIOSIL, stated that “the approval of these projects is timely and demand-driven.”

However, much remains to be done in Sierra Leone even if the elections are successful.

Sierra Leone remains one of the poorest countries in the world with a GDP per capita of only 164 US dollars and a 57% poverty rate.

In fact, a recent Security Council document stated that almost half of the population living in poverty lives in extreme poverty.

Other developmental issues such as a growing HIV infection rate, declining health services, and high jobless rates prove more has to be done by whatever government will take power to address the recent causes of political strife within the country.

Sierra Leone is still recovering from a devastating decade-long civil war in which thousands of people were killed and the infrastructure destroyed.

The civil war finally ceased in 2002 with massive amounts of assistance from a 13,000 member United Nations peacekeeping force known as the UNAMSIL, the predecessor to UNIOSIL.

UNAMSIL assisted Sierra Leone in the disarmament of some 75,000 rebel combatants, the repatriation of some 500,000 refugees, the re-establishment of government authority in former rebel-held areas, and the 2002 presidential elections in which Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was re-elected president.

However, such issues as the low level of human development within the country, economic dependency on international aid, and a poor human rights record are the root issues of the conflict that need to be fully addressed before the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Sierra Leone can truly be called a success and peace consolidated.