A line in the sand
Britain should play a bigger and more open role in Sierra Leone
SIERRA LEONE is a test—if we fail here, what hope is there for peacekeeping anywhere else in the world? That, roughly, was the challenge laid before the world's leaders who gathered at the United Nations for the recent millennium bash. A desperately poor country of just 5m people, in its tenth year of civil war, Sierra Leone is a place where outsiders could help end the violence (see article). The UN, Britain, America and some West African countries are trying. Yet, without firmer leadership of the operation, they could fail.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “A line in the sand”
From the September 16th 2000 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Lessons from the failure of Northvolt
Governments blew billions on a battery champion. Time to welcome foreign investors instead
How to make a success of peace talks with Vladimir Putin
The key is robust security guarantees for Ukrainians
Javier Milei: “My contempt for the state is infinite”
Argentina’s president is idolised by the Trumpian right. They should get to know him better
Tariff threats will do harm, even if Donald Trump does not impose them
The risk of a trade war is uncomfortably high
Peace in Lebanon is just a start
Donald Trump must build on Joe Biden’s belated success
From Nixon to China, to Trump to Tehran
Iran is weak. For America’s next president that creates an opportunity