Containing Ebola: A Test for Post-Conflict Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Ebola has provided the greatest test of the Sierra Leonean security sector – and, in turn, of the UK-led reforms of the past ten-to-fifteen years. The performance of the country's security forces at the height of the crisis suggests that there are sound structures in place; however, Ebola has shown that the Government of Sierra Leone's national security architecture still lacks maturity in responding to such a scenario. Drawing on first-hand interviews with advisers on the ground, this article explores the Sierra Leone government’s response to the Ebola crisis and the performance of the security sector so far, within the wider context of UK-led security-sector reform (SSR) since the end of the civil war. In doing so, it highlights a number of lessons to have emerged from the crisis, exploring what these reveal about the nature of the reforms implemented since the end of the country's civil war. In turn, it explores what these suggest for future SSR, which continues to be a core component of the UK’s approach to development and overseas capacity-building.