What the Fighters Say
A Survey of Ex-Combatants in
June-August
2003
Macartan Humphreys (Columbia University) and Jeremy Weinstein (Stanford University)
Download the July 2004 Interim Report
Download the Survey Instrument
Download the Location and Group Codebook
Download Background and Behavior Data
Download Background and Reintegration Data
Recognizing a window of opportunity between the
ending of Sierra Leone’s war and the beginning of trials by the International
Special Court for Sierra Leone, Columbia University’s Earth Institute provided
expedited support for a data-gathering project to better understand the causes
and consequences of Sierra Leone’s civil war, the internal dynamics of the
fighting groups, and the best strategies available to the international
community to respond to the security concerns raised by civil conflicts.
In partnership with a Freetown-based NGO, the
Post-conflict Reintegration Initiative for Development and Empowerment (PRIDE),
we conducted a large-scale survey of ex-combatants
during the summer of 2003, collecting information on all stages of the
The data offers a
systematic assessment of the dynamics of the
conflict and the post-conflict period.
It provides a key source of information that can help contribute to a
more complete history of the conflict, evaluate the prospects for continued
peace, and influence appropriate policies for intervention and post-conflict
reconstruction in
This interim report provides a first-cut at the
evidence on how the factions were organized, how combatants experienced the
demobilization process, and trends in post-conflict reintegration. Because
interest within