Sierra Leone: The Way Forward Meeting of Sierra Leonean Women in Guinea Sierra Leone Women's Forum and Femmes Africa Solidarite, 1997 The Sierra Leone Women's Forum is a group of Sierra Leonean refugee women living in Guinea, who meet once a week to discuss issues that relate to their lives as refugees in Guinea and also that relate to the current crisis that forced all of them to leave Sierra Leone. The group is not linked to a political party. It provides a support system to its members. One of its fundamental principles is the belief that women can and must be part of the process of resolving the Sierra Leonean crisis. It is made up of women who were already part of the Women's Forum in Sierra Leone and of women who had never previously taken an active interest or role in public affairs. At a meeting held in October 1997, the group discussed the present crisis at length and suggested some practical solutions under the theme "Sierra Leone: The Way Forward". The women agreed as follows: 1. Sierra Leonean women must play an active part in resolving the crisis because they are directly affected and have already shown during the elections that they are capable of having a positive impact. 2. Disarmament is the bedrock of any settlement; unless all armed personnel are disarmed, there will be no solution. 3. The 1996 Abidjan Accord should be the basis of any dealings between the government and combatants. 4. The combatants should be informed about the Abidjan Peace Accord. 5. FM radio 98.1 should be open to more voices - especially women's voices - and the reception area should be extended to cover the whole country. 6. Use of force to restore law and order should not be ruled out. 7. Foday Sankoh should be kept incommunicado until disarmament is completed.   Suggested Strategies for Women to Become Involved in the Peace Process 1. Women should inform the world about the situation of Sierra Leone. Women should target women's organisations in other countries. Sierra Leonean women should also network and link up with Guinean women's groups. 2. Networks and links should be formed with Sierra Leone refugee women in other countries so that a common platform could be arrived at and concerted action taken in different countries. 3. Women should meet and lobby the international community, particularly the ECOWAS Committee of five. Women should target the Committee of five countries and meet them in their home countries. 4. A day of prayer should be organised to ask for divine assistance and to spread information amongst worshippers in churches and mosques worldwide.   Follow-up to Conclusions and Strategies 1. The Forum established contact with COFEG (the Guinean Women's NGO umbrella) who were very sympathetic and interested in assisting Sierra Leonean women. The Sierra Leonean women would like to organise a meeting/workshop on Sierra Leone for Guinean women. To facilitate communication, the Sierra Leone Forum is organising French lessons for Sierra Leonean women and has offered English lessons to Guinean women. 2. Through the assistance from FAS, one woman from Guinea and one from the USA visited Banjul and established contact with Sierra Leonean refugees there. The visit was appreciated and the Banjul refugees will also be making their contribution to the debate. There should be a meeting of women from all the refugee centres to discuss and agree on a common position. 3. The Forum in Guinea delivered a letter to Lamine Kamara, Guinean Foreign Minister and Member of the Committee of five, ahead of the Conakry meeting, setting out their views on the crisis and plans to follow up the issues of how women play an active part in implementation of the Abidjan Accord and Conakry Communiqué. The follow-up should come from all the women, not just from those in Guinea. The Conakry Accord already looks shaky and women need to build a consensus of new ideas and a new way forward. 4. The Forum is planning further visits to the refugee camps. In the initial visit to Layah and Daniyeah camps, the women made it clear that their main concern was an early resolution of the crisis so they could return home, but they also wanted to be self-supportive in the meantime. The camp women wanted skills and means to generate their own income as they felt this was the best way to prevent the growth of an existing problem of prostitution. 5. The women have been holding workshops to study the Abidjan Accord, the Conakry Communiqué and the Constitution of Sierra Leone. This is to equip them to make others aware of the facts. Monitoring the state- controlled media in Sierra Leone has revealed a continuing well-organized misinformation campaign.   The Needs of Women in Conakry Women in Conakry are continuing to educate themselves, to debate the issues and to empower themselves despite the lack of resources. To continue to work effectively, they seek: 1. A secretariat that will coordinate communication between Sierra Leonean refugee women in the various host countries, and also organise coordinated activities by the women on issues of mutual concern, particularly the present political crisis. The secretariat would probably need two staff members and an office messenger/cleaner. 2. A fax machine and funds to pay for the outgoing faxes, as well as a computer and printer, are urgently needed, in order to keep in touch with other women. 3. A meeting of refugee women representatives from all the host countries is essential to provide an opportunity to draw up strategies and plan joint participation in the peace process. A common platform must be agreed on, in order to take part in the process. 4. Funds are needed to continue organising workshops on the various plans and proposals being put forward by the Government and the international community for activities once the Kabbah Government is restored. Members of the Forum are very interested but the resources of many are limited and the cost of transportation is a problem. 5. Visits and contacts with the Sierra Leonean women in the camps need to be continued but, again, travelling to the camps is very expensive.