''Sobel'' (

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''soldier'' + ''rebel'') is a term which has been used within the

politics of Sierra Leone Sierra Leone is a country located in West Africa, known officially as the Republic of Sierra Leone. Government of Sierra Leone The government of Sierra Leone is the governing authority of the Republic of Sierra Leone, as established by the Cons ...

to refer to members of the

army of Sierra Leone The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces () 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 Constit ...

who committed rebel attacks. In 1997, members of the armed forces known as 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 ca ...

(AFRC) staged a coup. The military, who had been fighting against rebel insurgents known as 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 ...

(RUF), joined forces with those rebels and turned their guns on the population, with considerable loss of life and numerous atrocities. However, the practice of military support to rebels predates that time as soldiers were involved in supplying guns and ammunition to rebels as early as 1993 and the word "sobel" appeared in common use from 1994. Though the RUF’s public facade was opposition to the corrupt government, it rapidly became more of a group of bandits. In initially opposing the RUF, the military carried out numerous atrocities against civilians in rebel areas, incurring the population's hatred. According to Feldman and Arrous, this further lowered morale among the soldiers and this, combined with low government rations, convinced the soldiers, who were called "sobels" ("soldiers by day - rebels by night") by the affected villagers, to join the rebels. This was also the time of fighting over

blood diamond Blood diamonds (also called conflict diamonds, brown diamonds, hot diamonds, or red diamonds) are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity. The term is u ...

s, when it became lucrative to appear to be serving as soldiers while at the same time exploiting the mineral resources. The quality and discipline of the army had declined after 1991, when it was expanded from 3,000 to 16,000 men in order to combat the RUF, with those recruited not being properly screened and having "no sense of direction, ambition, discipline, or loyalty". Though Sierra Leone is where the “sobel”

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

originated, similar situations may be observed in other parts of Africa. For example, Feldman and Arrous highlight the role of

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

fighters in

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

and

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

. Peace treaties to end Tuareg rebellions have sometimes integrated the former rebels into national armies. On occasions, these rebels became disenchanted with the army, resulting in their deserting and returning to being rebels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobel Politics of Sierra Leone Military units and factions of the Sierra Leone Civil War