Return to Freetown

Sorious Samura witnessed the terrible war in his country

By Sorious Samura

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (CNN) -- In the year 2000, my film "Cry Freetown" at last brought the world's attention to the suffering of thousands of people in a brutal civil war in my country, Sierra Leone.

A small West African state of about four million people, Sierra Leone achieved independence from Britain in 1961.

But what started as a movement against injustice and corruption turned into war.

Since 1990, that war has become a struggle between the government and the Revolutionary United Front for the country's gold and diamonds -- a struggle that has left Sierra Leone completely divided.

SPECIAL REPORT Follow Sorious Samura's Return to Freetown:  • Introduction  • Part 1: Release  • Part 2: Reunion  • Part 3: Beginnings  • Part 4: Memories  • Part 5: Doubts  • Part 6: Hopes    EXTRA INFORMATION Read Samura's account of his meeting with a rebel leader  in CNN Traveller  magazine   IN-DEPTH Samura looks at fellow Africans leaving for a better life in Exodus from Africa    RELATED SITE Sorious Samura's Africa

As a cameraman I have witnessed this terrible war, in which children were both the victims and the abusers.

Thousands were abducted by Foday Sankoh and the RUF rebels -- then drugged, abused and turned into killers.

Fragile peace

These children became the RUF's most efficient killers, and bands of them have terrorised my country for most of the last 10 years. The rebels even had a name for them -- SBUs, or Small Boy Units.

There is now peace in Sierra Leone, supported by the United Nations.

But two-thirds of the country is still controlled by the RUF.

As part of the peace agreement, nearly 7,000 child soldiers have been freed by the RUF and -- with the help of special charities -- reunited with their parents.

No one knows how many remain to be released.

I have come back to Sierra Leone find out what really happened to these children -- and to try to understand how and why so many of them were driven to kill.

The charities have allowed me to return three children back to their families. But will the rebels release these kids? And are the children themselves ready to return?