British Military Intervention in The Sierra Leone Civil War - Training The SLA

Training The SLA

The British government had decided that the RUF could not be trusted, and would have to be confronted and forced to enter the UN's Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) process. They assessed that there were three options available to achieve this – to deploy British forces against the RUF, for UNAMSIL to expand its operations and confront the RUF, or for the Sierra Leonean government to use loyal forces (the SLA and several local militia groups) to take on the RUF. Richards estimated that a British deployment against the RUF would require at least a brigade-sized force (in excess of 5,000 troops). Such a force could not be assembled while maintaining commitments elsewhere, and British forces' involvement in Sierra Leone was politically unpopular in Westminster, so the use of British forces to confront the RUF directly was ruled out. Also ruled out was a UNAMSIL-led confrontation. Although UNAMSIL's mandate would have allowed it to enter into combat with the RUF, the national contingents were reluctant to leave their bases and its focus remained on peacekeeping rather than the peace enforcement that the British and others believed was necessary.

This left the alliance of militia groups and the SLA the only force capable of confronting the RUF. However, the SLA had been almost completely disarmed through the UN's DDR process and needed significant restructuring in order to be capable of conducting operations. In order to accomplish this, the UN lifted its arms embargo on Sierra Leone (allowing re-arming of the SLA) and the British forces began advising and training the SLA. An international team had been planned to deploy to Sierra Leone to assist the SLA with longer-term development and democratic accountability, and a British Short-Term Training Team (STTT) deployed simultaneously to improve the SLA's infantry skills. The STTT mission was codenamed Operation Basilica and based at the Benguema Training Centre – an abandoned barracks near Waterloo, which had been refurbished for the purpose. The first unit to take on the role was based around 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment (2 RAR), and comprised approximately 250 personnel, including 45 instructors and a force protection company. The Anglians arrived at Benguema on 15 June to train 1,000 SLA recruits and the ARG withdrew. The training at Benguema included instruction on the Geneva Convention, unit cohesiveness, and other skills to build the SLA into a professional army.