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This article examines the external and internal dimensions and resources of post-conflict reconstruction in Sierra Leone. Foreign aid represents the bulk of the external sources of support, though its imminent reduction is a significant concern. Internally resources, such as diamond exports, offer much potential as a means to spur economic growth and reconstruction, but diamonds may also very well disrupt reconstruction efforts.The paper finds that:while foreign donors have been financing many reconstruction projects it is uncertain what level of international aid will be received by Sierra Leone in the medium and long terminternal sources of reconstruction are equally uncertain: while diamond exports have been growing at a healthy rate since the final years of the civil war, particularly since the official end of hostilities at the beginning of 2002, a number of obstacles remain:diamond smuggling and illicit mining persist in Sierra Leone, despite the strengthening of legislationregional instability may place the diamond mines at risk once again should hostilities resume in Liberia or emerge in Guineait is risky to rely on a single commodity for the bulk of export earnings, especially as diamond resources themselves are finitethe present challenge is to focus on more medium- and long-term reconstruction solutions, entailing more conventional forms of developmentthe psychological and physical trauma endured by the people of Sierra Leone cannot be ignored by efforts to spur economic growth and reconstruction as this is crucial to prevent a resumption of the vicious cycle of greed and grievance that led to the outbreak of civil war in the first place.
