GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The main issue concerning the global scape concerning both Liberia and Sierra Leone was the refugees' crisis and the extraction of diamonds.

The civil war caused thousands of people to forcefully move out from their homes. The neighbour countries were not prepared for that massive amount of displaced, who were mainly concentrated in refugees camps, not in good conditions.

However, the real problem appeared when these people wanted to go back to their homes. In the case of Liberia, the land had been changing hands and occupied during the absence of its owners. Even if they could have it back, there was no guarantee that someone else would reclaim it. 

In order to incentive mediation, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) started a project in Liberia. The council only works if both parties are interested in discussing the issue. The mediators in NRC are all Liberian so that there are no cultural misunderstandings.

The UN Refugee Agency had also a relevant role with the refugees in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In both countries, they provided basic humanitarian help to the refugees in camps. The UNHCR programme tried to help the victims of violence and provide a safe environment away from the conflicted border for all the people who had left their country. One of their objectives was also to make the return of the refugees easy and to help them reintegrate.

Furthermore, two institutions promoted the achievement and maintenance of peace. The first one was the UN Peacebuilding Commission. This institution keeps an eye on the security sector, ensuring that police are well trained and tries to make the courts functioning. 

The second institution is WANEP (West African Network for Peacebuilding). Their organized roundtable consultations that promoted social cohesion, since they talked about the issues that concerned the most to their participants. Depending on the country, they focus on issues such as peacebuilding, women or education.

The second global issue is the economic one. Sierra Leone but also Liberia are great mines of diamonds. During the war, these diamonds were extracted illegally and sold at a lower price in order to finance the war. In fact, Charles Taylor was declared guilty of financing the war with these diamonds in 2010. 

Taking advantage of the unstable situation of the area, private companies bought these diamonds. The foreign governments, which knew the consequences of buying the mineral to the West African country, did not undertake any measure to stop it and actually these diamonds were sold for a really long period of time.