In a joint communiqué signed in front of President Ernest Bai Koroma and officially witnessed by the Executive Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Michael von der Schulenburg, the chairmen and secretaries-general of the All Peoples Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) vowed to “work jointly in preventing all forms of political incitement, provocation and intimidation that could lead to a recurrence of the disturbances witnessed in March 2009.”
The party leaders acknowledged that the recent violence “has already caused alarm in the minds of Sierra Leonean citizens and tarnished the international image of Sierra Leone,” and agreed to a series of commitments to joint action.
“While we must learn from our painful historical experiences, we maintain that we should not be haunted by those memories,” the party leaders said. ”Instead, we commit ourselves to building a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Sierra Leone for the benefit of all of our people.”
The statement was signed by SLPP Chairman John O. Benjamin, APC Administrative Chairman Birch Conteh, SLPP Secretary-General Jacob. J. Saffa, and APC Secretary-General Victor B. Foh. Implementation of today’s agreements will be monitored by a committee co-chaired by the Political Parties Registration Commission and the Executive Representative of the UN Secretary-General. The Communiqué will be formally presented to the Parliament of Sierra Leone as well as to the United Nations Secretary-General, the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission.
“The two parties deserve great credit for recognizing their joint responsibility to reject violence, and the international community must do what it can to support them,” said von der Schulenburg, who heads the UN’s Integrated Peacebuilding Mission in Sierra Leone.
In their communiqué, the opposition SLPP acknowledged the President’s and Government’s “overall authority” under the constitution, while the governing APC recognized “the special responsibility of the State in providing adequate security to the opposition parties, including its leaders and properties, as well as political space …(for) legitimate party activities.”
The two parties agreed to an “independent review” of the recent violence in Gendema, Pujehun District, Freetown and Kenema, and said perpetrators should be prosecuted “irrespective of their real or alleged political affiliation.” They also categorically condemned all forms of violence against women and requested an “independent enquiry” to investigate the reported cases of sexual assault at SLPP headquarters on March 16.
In the heart of today’s agreement -- a series of bipartisan commitments to consolidating a peaceful and democratic political culture-- the party leaders:
- Recognized the critical role of the national police in upholding the rule of law, and urged the swift establishment of an Independent Police Complaints Board and further international aid to ensure that police have the training and equipment to respond to civil disturbances without resorting to “lethal force”
- Pledged to respect the independence of democratic institutions such as the PPRC, the National Electoral Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Independent Media Commission, and agreed that opposition parties should be consulted before candidates to head these commissions are proposed by the President to the Parliament
- Recognized “the role of the media in a democratic society and agree[d] that the question of lifting the ban on the operation of the two party radio stations should be dealt with by the Independent Media Commission”
- Pledged “to work together in establishing an independent public broadcasting corporation for Sierra Leone that ... gives equal access to the views and arguments of all political parties”
- Promised to strive for “regional balance in the membership and representation of their respective parties” including by opening doors to all “irrespective of political, geographical or ethnic considerations”
- Vowed to disband “all so-called youth task forces or any other militant youth groups” and to work to reduce youth unemployment
- Agreed to “refrain from engaging ex-combatants in party politics or state institutions” without prior reorientation and training
- Recommended an end to “war-like nicknames” by party members as they are “intimidating and reminiscent of the brutal civil war “
- Urged bipartisan efforts to combat drug trafficking and drug use
- Committed themselves to “regular multi-party talks” in Freetown, Makeni, Bo and Kenema, to be chaired by the PPRC, with the Executive Representative of the Secretary General as co-chair.
Also present at today’s signing ceremony were the high commissioners of Nigeria and the United Kingdom; the ambassadors of China, the European Union and the United States; and the charges d’affairs of Ghana and Germany. In their communiqué, the party leaders thanked Sierra Leone’s international partners and asked them to continue their generous support to the country, especially in these times of global economic crisis.
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UNIPSIL Public Information Office, Kabenda Hotel, Signal Hill RoadMEDIA CONTACT: Elena Drozdik, Public Information Officer, cell phone: 076-646982; email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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