Summary
UN sanctions imposed on the AFRC (UNSCR 1132, 8 October 1997) to restore the democratically elected President Kabbah and to constrain all parties to the conflict (particularly the RUF) in an effort to cease hostilities.
Purposes
Coerce
Coerce the AFRC into restoring the democratically elected government (Kabbah) to power.
Constrain
Constrain the RUF and the AFRC from further acts of violence and to cease interference with humanitarian relief efforts.
Signal
Signal support for the democratically elected government.
Sanctions type
Mandatory
Travel ban on the military junta and their adult family members (diplomatic sanctions), petroleum imports ban, and arms imports embargo on all parties to the conflict.
Designations
No individual targets specified.
Potential scope
Potential scope of impact
UN sanctions are likely to have significant impacts on the general population, since they include restrictions on the import of widely used commodities (such as oil), major commodity exports, and/or the transportation or financial sectors that affect the entire economy.
Implementation
Sanctions Committee created, no sanctions monitoring mechanism in place. Enforcement authorities specified, PKO had enforcement role.
Effectiveness
Coercion
Policy outcome
Regional ceasefire and agreement to restore constitutional rule (the Conakry Communiqué) was negotiated on October 23, 1997; Kabbah was restored to office on 10 March 1998 after ECOMOG forces recaptured Freetown.
Sanctions contribution
ECOMOG forces intervened in the country and there were active ECOWAS diplomatic activities.
Constraint
Policy outcome
AFRC was constrained, while fighting between RUF and ECOMOG forces continued throughout the episode.
Sanctions contribution
Reinforced ECOWAS sanctions and ECOMOG activity.
Signaling
Policy outcome
Goals (democracy support) clearly articulated in the UNSCR, as well as reinforcement of regional initiatives (ECOWAS).
Sanctions contribution
No country recognized the regime during this episode.
Overall
Unintended consequences
Increase in corruption and/or criminality, increase in human rights violations, humanitarian consequences, decline in the credibility and/or legitimacy of UN Security Council.
UN sanctions resolutions guide
Substantive
- Imposes travel ban on military junta and their adult family members.
- Imposes petroleum imports ban to Sierra Leone and specifies exemptions for democratically-elected Government of Sierra Leone, as well as any other government, UN agency, or ECOMOG for humanitarian purposes (no-objection procedure).
- Imposes arms imports embargo to Sierra Leone (all parties to the conflict).
- Authorizes ECOWAS to implement arms imports embargo and petroleum imports ban, including cargo inspection.
- Specifies conditions for sanctions termination.
Procedural
- Establishes Sanctions Committee and specifies its mandate.
- Sets sanctions review (6 months).
- Requests ECOWAS and MS reporting.
