Sierra Leone 1999-2000

In 1999 I was seconded from the Royal Marines to be an unarmed United Nations Military Observer (UNMO) in Sierra Leone where   the country was in the midst of a civil war. When I arrived there was an uneasy stand off between UN battalions, The Economic Union of West African States (ECOWAS) and the rebel forces (The Revolutionary United Front (RUF)). My role was to establish contact with the rebel forces and persuade them to join the peace process; I'm not sure the photographs adequately capture the tension in what I can only describe as a true 'boy's own adventure'.