Concord Times (Freetown)
Ben Samuel Turay
8 January 2008
Freetown — A local human rights group, Forum of Conscience, has established 'Fambul Tok' initiative as a way of complimenting the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) using traditional methods of reconciliation at community level.
Executive Director, John Caulker told journalists in Freetown that the scheme is a three-year project designed to foster sustainable peace in the country.
"Fambul Tok is a partnership between Forum of Conscience and Catalyst for Peace, a US based foundation which supports locally rooted reconciliation process in posts conflict African societies," Caulker said, adding that the project will reconcile victims, perpetrators and witnesses.
He said during a nationwide consultation he learned that the people in the country are yet to be reconciled.
Caulker stated that the project is a pilot for three districts- Kailahun, Bonthe and Tonkolili adding that the three districts were very significant to the war.
"Kailahun was where the war started, Tonkolili is the home town of Revolutionary United Fronted (RUF) leader, Foday Sankoh and Bonthe is the place where 300 people were fired," he said.
Fambul Tok, he said, was not rooted out of western concepts of crime and punishment.
"Since the end of the war in 2002, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has come and gone and the Special Court is about to wrap up its final deliberations. Despite lots of resources spent on these proceedings, neither body has succeeded in fundamentally changing the life of the ordinary Sierra Leonean who still grapples with the aftermath of the war," he said.
He said Fambul Tok was inspired by the conviction that Sierra Leoneans have the power, goodness and capacity to contribute meaningfully to society.
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