Ex-Leone enemies ride together

Former enemies now work alongside each other

The way most people get around in Bo, Sierra Leone's second city, is on the back of motorbike taxis.

What is remarkable is that the taxi riders are former rebels and pro-government militia fighters who fought so bitterly against each other during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war.

Both the rebels and the Kamajor militia were accused of brutal atrocities but once the war ended, new skills were needed and in Bo they acted fast.

At a stroke the creation of the Bo Bike Riders Association three years ago solved two problems. It brought cheap transport to the people of Bo and it took potential criminals and troublemakers off the streets - or rather it kept them on the streets but doing something useful.

Organised

Some 1,000 motorbike taxi riders are now operating in the city, chairman Daniel Tucker told the BBC's Network Africa.

He said the taxi riders received training and had to acquire licences and the association even had their own police to stop anyone getting out of line.

They also took seriously any accidents or careless riding and instituted disciplinary measures.

"We are a traumatised country. We were demobilised but are still traumatised," he explained.

"When you misbehave or have two accidents in a month you are suspended," he said.

Honest living

One taxi rider, Mohamed Travelye, alias Defeat, said that after being in the bush fighting for the Revolutionary United Front rebels for such a long time he wanted to earn some money honestly.

Some rent their motorbikes

"I've asked God to forgive me," he told the BBC, "I now want to do something for myself."

He said he now had lots of friends among his former enemies, the Kamajor, and he felt there was little doubt the war is over for Sierra Leone.

For him and his colleagues they are now more likely to wield a spanner than a gun.