Document #1084503
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Information on the situation of people suspected of prior collaboration with the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), including their treatment by government authorities, the Kamajors and the population, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
However, in 13 July 2005 correspondence sent to the Research Directorate, the editor of [Elk River, Minnesota]-based Sierra Leone Web (SLW) stated that he is not aware of "any targeting of members of formers factions," nor he has heard of "any incidents at all" involving these groups. The editor explained that, while a certain number of members of the former armed factions, including the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and West Side Boys, are still in prison or on trial in connection with crimes committed in 2000, "there is no harassment of persons connected with those factions by government" (SLW 13 July 2005).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Reference
The Sierra Leone Web (SLW). 13 July
2005. Correspondence from the editor.
Additional Sources Consulted
A senior research fellow at the Kofi
Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana,
did not respond to a request for information within time
constraints.
Publications: Africa
Confidential, Africa Research Bulletin, Jeune
Afrique/L'Intelligent, Resource Centre country file.
Internet sites, including:
AllAfrica.com, Amnesty International, European Country of Origin
Information Network (ECOI), Global IDP, Human Rights Watch (HRW),
Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Integrated Regional
Information Networks (IRIN), International Crisis Group (ICG),
Relief Web, Reporters Without Borders, Sierra Leone Web, United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), U.S. Department of
State.