By Alieu Amara Suwu (amarasuwualieu01@gmail.com MRCG/ATJLF Fellow 2025)
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report dealt extensively on memorization. It states, for instance, that “…memorial should…not be separated from other transitional justice goals. For a successful memorial, remembrance lies at the centre of a network of transitional justice goals central to survivors of mass atrocity and human rights abuses, such as truth-seeking, prevention of future abuses, reparation and reconciliation.” (Sierra Leone TRC report- Appendix 4, Part 1: Memorials and Transitional Justice)
Kailahun District, located in the eastern region of Sierra Leone, is one of the most affected by the country’s 1991 – 2002 civil war, which claimed thousands of lives and displaced thousands more. In the heart of Kailahun Town stands the Kailahun Slaughter House, which the TRC recommended for the Government to claim and protect.
“It is important that this building is preserved as a monument and site of conscience,” the report notes.
Kailahun District shares a border with both Liberia and Guinea, the only two countries that Sierra Leone shares borders with. Like Pujehun, its southern neighbor, Kailahun became a ‘gateway’ for the initial incursion by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in March 1991.
Bockarie Gobeh (not his real name), a native of Kailahin and a former RUF rebel, saw the horrors that happened in the Kailahun Slaughter House live. Gobeh, who now lives in Freetown, where he makes a living riding Okada (commercial motor bike), served under the command of one of the most notorious RUF commanders, Sam Bockarie, alias Maskita (Mosquito).
“The Slaughter House was the main office of our Eastern Region RUF Field Commander, Sam Bockarie, alias Maskita, during the war, where thousands of people were tortured, suffocated, amputated and killed,” Gobeh said in an interview.
Responding to what importance the house serves as a memorial, he said: “The memory of the Slaughter House is tormenting to me, but also good for those who always think war is the ultimate solution to injustices and other social issues.”
Gobeh feels emotionally guilty. He said the Slaughter House reminds him of his actions and atrocities, and thus he wonders if God and the people he inflicted harm on have forgiven him.
“My conscience will forever hunt me, for every time I visit my home town, Kailahun, and see that place, I feel bad and always wish for forgiveness from victims and from God,” he said.
Several reports, such as the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), have described the country’s civil war as one of the most brutal conflicts Africa has witnessed, resulting in the death of over 50,000 people and the displacement of half a million in a nation with a population of under three million during the period of the war.
Jeneba Senesie, a victim (amputee) of the war, who met her fate in the Kailahun Slaughter House, described the space as a tombstone for the deterioration of human civilization into a cannibalistic existence.
“It was a place meant not for any other purpose but for the sole purpose of killing and butchering humans for food. It brings to mind the images of my weeping and pains and of those who had their last breaths there, and felt the agony at the hands of RUF rebels,” she said.
Jeneba was born in Kailahun and now lives in a camp for People Living With Disabilities in neighboring Kenema District. She suggested having the House as a monument for the war, noting that it should be preserved for posterity. She also hopes it can serve as a reminder of the moral disintegrating effects of war, so that those things that contributed to the emergence of the war are not repeated.
The Slaughter House in present day stands as a very old, unfinished building, with its fading yellow and red paints – signs that its owner had better dreams for a luxurious family home before it became what people now know as a Slaughter House. Attached to the decaying skeleton, on what is its second floor, is a makeshift carpenter shop and what seems like wooden hangers for goods, possibly second-hand clothes.
Joseph Kaifala, Chairperson of the Monuments and Relics Commission, who also oversees the Peace Museum, said the Slaughter House remains as a grim reminder of the perils of war as hundreds of civilians were slaughtered by the RUF rebels in that single house.
“Sierra Leone, a nation with a tumultuous past marked by colonialism and a devastating civil war, that place (Slaughter House) remains a vital component of national healing and plays a crucial role in shaping identities, fostering understanding, and promoting reconciliation in societies, such as Kailahun specifically and Sierra Leone in General, emerging from war,” he said via a Whatsapp interview.
Speaking generally on memorialisation, Kaifala said it promotes national identity, helps prevent the erasure of traumatic events from collective memory, ensuring that lessons from the past are not forgotten, thereby reducing the risk of repeating mistakes. He also said that memorialisation cultivates empathy and understanding, which are essential for reconciliation in a post war country like Sierra Leone.
“As Sierra Leone continues to rebuild after years of conflict, a strong foundation in history such as the Slaughter House and other memorial places can guide future generations in making informed decisions that promote peace and stability,” he said.
Anthony Macauley, 25, is a law student at the Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone. He visited the Peace Museum this year as part of a field trip. His sighting of pictures of the Slaughter House had a profound emotional impact on him. Macauley envisions an everlasting peaceful Sierra Leone and vowed to be a peace ambassador.
He said: “Those pictures I saw were devastating. I pray that this country never experiences war.”
This story is brought to you with support from the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF) through the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), under the project ‘Engaging Media and Communities to Change the Narrative on Transitional Justice Issues in Sierra Leone.
