General information

Call No.:

392-1-1:3/1

Part of series

HU OSA 392-1-1 Video Recordings of WITNESS: Activist films of Witness: Documentary films and promotional videos of Witness

Located at

DVD-ROM #3 / No. 1

Digital ver. identifier

HU OSA 392-1-1_003

Date of production

2000

Date

2000

Level

Item

Primary Type

Moving image

Language

English

Duration

6 min.

Notes

Guerilla News Network/ Aroun Rashid Deen / WITNESS

Content

Form/Genre

Documentary film

Contents Summary

The Revolutionary United Front's (RUF) attack on Freetown in January of 1999 was the culmination of a decade-long and bloody struggle between the RUF and the government of Sierra Leone. The rebel forces, bolstered by the former Sierra Leonean Army, which had turned on the government, swept into the city, killing, mutilating, and raping thousands in the continuing war over the control of the country's rich diamond fields. RUF units burned houses with civilians inside, shot and raped people at random, killing an estimated 6,000 people in the span of three weeks. Since 1990, half the country's population of five million has been displaced. Today, Sierra Leone produces more refugees than any other country in Africa. The country is full of war victims, whose amputated limbs serve as living testimony to the brutality of the rebels. This Rights Alert feature, with footage and commentary by Sierra Leonean journalist Aroun Rashid Deen and music by Peter Gabriel, provides a disturbing glimpse into the greed and violence that fuels the diamond war. A Guerilla News Network production in association with WITNESS.

Context

Associated Names

WITNESS (Producer)