Word: ruffing
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...freely elected government, which is backed by the UN and a host of neighboring West African countries, and a band of militia rebels who, among other things, want to control Sierra Leone’s profitable diamond mines. The rebels call themselves the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and are responsible for the death and maiming of over 10,000 Sierra Leonians...
...Sunday, May 25th, 1997, the unthinkable happened in Freetown. Edgar’s family awoke that morning to the sounds of gunfire, helicopters, and exploding grenades in the streets outside their house as RUF rebels, led by Major Johnny Paul Koroma plundered the city, destroyed local shops and diplomatic missions. Koroma went on to oust the freely elected president of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah because he was dissatisfied with Kabbah’s inability to secure peace in a country that had seen constant fighting for the past seven years. Determined to tear down the existing governmental regime with...
...former colonial masters sent troops to that troubled west African nation last year after Revolutionary United Front rebels broke a peace deal and took hostage hundreds of U.N. peacekeeping troops. The arrival of the British was applauded by Freetown citizens, who, for a few days, had believed that the RUF rebels were about to launch another of their murderous attacks on the city. The presence of a disciplined, well-trained Western force turned the mood within a week...
...Later, on the island of Madura, a short ferry ride from Surabaya - where Zheng He would have anchored his boats during his visits - I meet Ma'ruf. At 27, married at 15 to a 13-year-old girl, he still has a boyish face and a loose-limbed manner. He was born and raised on Madura but, unemployed, unmoved by the prospect of spending his life in the tobacco fields, he left for Sampit in Borneo several years ago and found work as a driver. Last February, long simmering tensions between the Madurese and the native Dayaks erupted. The Dayaks...
...Upwards of 100,000 Madurese left central Kalimantan. Ma'ruf is unemployed again, living with relatives on a wooded back road in the town of Rahayu outside Sampang. His wife and children are staying with her sister in a neighboring town. She has a recurring dream that the house is on fire and they have to get out. Ma'ruf doesn't have the nightmares, but he hasn't the faintest clue why it all happened. "I don't know," he says. "I don't feel anything at all right now. I just want to keep living...