Reconciliation in Sierra Leone

Since the end of World War II, there have been 259 armed conflicts in 159 locations. Sierra Leone’s civil war began 25 years ago, at a time when roughly 25% of all countries worldwide were experiencing civil war. How can individuals and groups recover from such violent conflicts? We discuss the findings of a recent study (by Cilliers et al. in this issue) that provides rigorous evidence on the efficacy of one postwar reconciliation strategy that was implemented in 100 communities in Sierra Leone.