Sierra Leone has used the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81) to highlight its evolving approach to peacebuilding, calling for stronger national and community-based mechanisms capable of detecting and addressing tensions before they develop into violent conflict.

The country’s experience was presented during a High-Level Ministerial Side Event on “African Leadership and Partnerships for Prevention and Peacebuilding: Advancing National Peace Infrastructures,” held on 25 September 2026 at the African Union Mission in New York.

Executive Secretary of the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC), Hawa Sally Samai, represented Sierra Leone on the panel, where she outlined how the country has gradually moved from post-war reconstruction towards a prevention-focused approach to sustaining peace and national cohesion.

The high-level engagement was convened by Egypt and Kenya in collaboration with the United Nations Peacebuilding and Peace Support Office and the African Union. It attracted representatives from African Governments, the United Nations, the Peacebuilding Fund, Open Society Foundations and other development partners.

Discussions centred on strengthening African-led peacebuilding mechanisms and ensuring that countries have effective institutions capable of responding to emerging disputes and grievances at an early stage. Participants also considered ways of translating the outcomes of the 2025 Peacebuilding Architecture Review into concrete national interventions supported by reliable partnerships and sustainable financing.

Drawing on Sierra Leone’s post-war experience, Hawa Sally Samai explained that the country’s peacebuilding priorities have changed considerably since the civil war ended more than two decades ago.

During the immediate post-war years, efforts were largely directed towards reconciliation, rebuilding state institutions, strengthening democratic governance, promoting human rights and restoring confidence among communities affected by the conflict.

With those foundations established, attention has increasingly shifted towards preventing future instability by strengthening national resilience, community participation, dialogue and mechanisms for addressing disputes before they become serious security threats.

Hawa Sally Samai said the challenge facing Sierra Leone today is no longer limited to rebuilding after conflict but also ensuring that the conditions capable of producing another conflict are identified and addressed early.

She maintained that effective conflict prevention cannot operate solely from national institutions in the capital, stressing that peacebuilding structures must extend to communities where grievances and tensions often first emerge.

According to her, women, young people, traditional authorities and Civil Society Organisations have particularly important roles to play because of their direct interaction with communities and their ability to recognize early warning signs.

Connecting those community-level observations with institutions capable of responding through dialogue, mediation and peaceful dispute resolution, she noted, is essential to an effective national prevention system.

Sierra Leone has benefited from a longstanding relationship with the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, which has supported peacebuilding initiatives in the country since 2007.

That cooperation has covered areas including reconciliation, governance, human rights, social cohesion, conflict prevention and resolution, as well as programmes aimed at increasing the participation and empowerment of women and young people.

Despite the importance of international assistance, Hawa Sally Samai emphasized that lasting peace cannot depend indefinitely on externally driven interventions.

“Peacebuilding works when it is nationally owned but internationally supported,” she told the gathering.

She urged development partners to place greater emphasis on building institutions and capacities that remain functional after individual projects and funding arrangements have ended.

Hawa Sally Samai also called for a longer-term approach to financing peacebuilding and conflict prevention, arguing that establishing institutions may be possible within the lifespan of a project, but developing public trust, durable relationships and effective national capacity requires considerably more time.

She therefore underscored the need for financing arrangements that are predictable, flexible and capable of supporting long-term national prevention priorities rather than concentrating exclusively on short-term interventions.

Sierra Leone’s participation in the New York engagement highlighted the lessons of a country that has travelled from armed conflict through reconstruction and reconciliation towards a broader national effort to institutionalize peace.

More than two decades after the war, the country is increasingly placing prevention at the centre of its peacebuilding agenda, recognizing that maintaining stability requires continuous attention to grievances, social pressures and emerging challenges.

The message presented at UNGA81 was that peace should not only be protected after a crisis has occurred but continuously strengthened through institutions capable of listening, mediating and responding before disagreements escalate.

Hawa Sally Samai concluded by stressing that international partnerships should complement, rather than replace, national responsibility for sustaining peace.

“We are not asking you to build peace for Sierra Leone. Sierra Leoneans have built the peace. We are asking you to help us sustain it,” she stated. https://thecalabashnewspaper.com/archives/65001