Civil Defence Forces

E581910

The Civil Defence Forces were a pro-government militia in Sierra Leone, composed largely of traditional hunters and local defense groups, that fought against rebel factions during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Civil Defence Forces canonical 5

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf pro-government militia
accusedOf human rights abuses
war crimes
activePeriod 1990s
early 2000s
alliedWith ECOMOG
Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group
Sierra Leone Army
areaOfOperations eastern Sierra Leone
rural Sierra Leone
southern Sierra Leone
armedConflictType civil war
commandStructure loosely organized
composition local defense groups
traditional hunters
conflict Sierra Leone Civil War
country Sierra Leone
demobilized post-2002
disarmamentProcess Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration programme in Sierra Leone
fundingSource Sierra Leone government support
local communities
goal defend communities from rebel attacks
support restoration of elected government
ideology pro-government
languageOfMembers Krio
Mende
notableComponent Kamajors
notableTrial CDF case at the Special Court for Sierra Leone
opposed Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
Revolutionary United Front
partOf Sierra Leone government-aligned forces
recognizedBy Sierra Leone government
recruitmentBase Mende communities
rural communities
region West Africa
roleInConflict pro-government force
status defunct
subjectOf Special Court for Sierra Leone proceedings
supportedBy Sierra Leone civilian population
trainingBackground traditional hunting practices
typeOfOrganization ethnically-influenced militia
usedChildSoldiers true
usedTypeOfWarfare guerrilla tactics
irregular warfare
usedWeapons machetes
shotguns
small arms

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Sierra Leone Civil War belligerent Civil Defence Forces
Sierra Leone Civil War involvedOrganization Civil Defence Forces
Lomé Peace Agreement party Civil Defence Forces
Hinga Norman leaderOf Civil Defence Forces