President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who came to power in 1996, was forced to enter power-sharing negotiations with the RUF, mainly because elements of the army mutinied and joined the rebels. On Wednesday, after marathon mediation efforts brokered by Togo and a host of international mediators, Kabbah and the rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, struck a deal to end the conflict. Under the peace accord, Sankoh's men will be given a sharing role in Kabbah's government, including four Cabinet posts and four deputies. It also provides for immunity from prosecution for rebels who committed war crimes. But the deal is deeply controversial in Freetown.
Many people fear that the rebel leadership is being rewarded for atrocities.
They say the deal could perpetuate a cycle of injustice and impunity. If those responsible for ordering atrocities are in political power, what is to stop other rebel movements doing the same, they ask.