GLOSSARY

AFRC	The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, a splinter-group of the Sierra Leone Army that staged a coup in 1997 and aligned with the RUF.
De Beers Group	The largest diamond mining and selling company in the world. Before it was purchased by insiders in 2001, De Beers Group was composed of two entities: De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. and De Beers Centenary AG.
DTC	Diamond Trading Company, the London-based marketing arm of De Beers, which sells about 65 percent of the world production of rough diamonds.
ECOMOG	The ECOWAS Cease-Fire Monitoring Group, ECOWAS’s military arm.
ECOWAS	The Economic Community of West African States, a regional group of fifteen countries.
EO	Executive Outcomes, a South African private military company, dissolved in 1999.
Kamajor	A warrior sect of the Mende tribe, characterized by animist beliefs and superstition.
LURD	Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, a rebel group composed of an amalgamation of dissident factions fighting to topple the government of Charles Taylor.
MLPA	The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, an Angolan political party representing the majority government.
MSF	Médecins Sans Frontières, a nongovernmental organization that provides medical care to refugees and war victims.
NPFL	The National Patriotic Front of Liberia, the Liberian rebel group led by Charles Taylor, currently the president of Liberia; the NPFL overthrew the government of Samuel K. Doe in 1990.
RUF	The Revolutionary United Front, led by Foday Sankoh, is a Sierra Leone rebel group formed in 1991; trained in Libya with leaders of the NPFL, the two rebel groups have close ties.
RUFP	The Revolutionary United Front Party, the RUF’s political arm.
SLA	Sierra Leone Army.
UNAMSIL	The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.
UNHCR	United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
UNICEF	United Nations Children’s Fund.
UNITA	The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, an Angolan rebel group formed in the early 1990s.