The West Side Boys, also known as the West Side Niggaz or the West Side Junglers,
were an armed group in
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
, sometimes described as a splinter
Political faction, faction of the
Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) was a group of Sierra Leone soldiers that allied itself with the rebel Revolutionary United Front in the late 1990s. While the AFRC briefly controlled the country in 1998, it was driven from the cap ...
.
They captured and held peacekeepers from the
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone from 1999 to 2006. It was created by the United Nations Security Council in October 1999 to help with the implementation of the Lomà ...
(UNAMSIL) and, in August 2000, captured a patrol of British soldiers from the
Royal Irish Regiment and their
Sierra Leone Army
The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) are the armed forces of Sierra Leone, responsible for the territorial security of Sierra Leone's borders and defending the national interests of Sierra Leone, within the framework of the 1991 Si ...
liaison officer. The group was subsequently destroyed in an operation by the
Special Air Service and
Parachute Regiment in September 2000 during
Operation Barras
Operation Barras was a British Army operation that took place in Sierra Leone on 10 September 2000, during the late stages of Sierra Leone Civil War, the nation's civil war. The operation aimed to release five British soldiers of the Royal Ir ...
.
The group was influenced to some extent by American
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
and
gangsta rap music, especially
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...
, and the "gangsta" culture portrayed therein. Since the title 'West Side Niggaz' would have been an entirely unacceptable phrase to be regularly used on news programmes concerning the group, the title was amended to render it to the innocuous 'West Side Boys'. Prior to their destruction, the group's size had expanded to around 600 but later suffered about 200 defections.
Many members of the group were
child soldiers abducted after their parents had been killed by the "recruiters". Some of these children were forced to participate in
torturing
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
their parents to death in order to brutalise and dehumanise them. The West Side Boys were heavy users of poyo (homemade
palm wine
Palm wine, known by several local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and is common in va ...
), locally grown
marijuana, and
heroin bought with
conflict diamonds
''Blood Diamond'' is a 2006 American political war action thriller film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mi ...
. Conflict diamonds were also used to purchase many of their weapons, which ranged from
FN FAL/L1A1 rifles,
AK-47/AKM rifles and
RPG-7 grenade launchers to
81 mm mortars and
ZPU-2 anti-aircraft guns. Most of their vehicles were hijacked from UN food convoys.
Description
At the time that the West Side Boys were active, large areas of Sierra Leone were controlled by militias. However, there existed no provable connections to the main rebel group in Sierra Leone, the
Revolutionary United Front
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...
.
Frequently the subject of British media, due in part to their kidnapping of British soldiers and their flamboyant character, as reported by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
: "They were known for wearing bizarre clothing – women's wigs and flip-flops were favourites – and being almost perpetually drunk."
A 2008 article published in the ''
'' offers an alternative view of the West Side Boys as an effective military unit employing military and political techniques to achieve defined goals, as opposed to a criminal gang with no political purpose engendered by the perpetual lawlessness and social breakdown of the country.