🔎 What This Paper Asks

Do rebels target civilians as part of the process of establishing control in newly captured territory? This research note argues that the period immediately after rebels seize and hold territory is especially violent for civilians because rebels use violence to extract compliance until local capacities and institutions for peaceful governance are built.

📌 What Was Studied: Civilian Harm During Post-Capture Transitions

• Focus: civilian victimization and rebel governance during territorial transitions
• Case: Revolutionary United Front (RUF) activity in Sierra Leone
• Time frame: 1997–2001

🔍 How This Was Measured: Integrating Event Data and Multiple Sources

• Methodological approach centers on recent advances in integrating event data
• Multiple datasets were combined to map patterns of violence over space and time
• Analysis: spatiotemporal comparison of areas after rebel capture versus areas without territorial takeover

📈 Key Findings: Spikes in Targeting After Takeover

• Civilian targeting increases in the immediate period after rebels capture territory from the government
• Areas that experienced territorial takeover show higher levels of violence than comparable areas without takeover
• The pattern is consistent with a strategic use of violence to gain compliance until governance capacities and institutions are established

💡 Why It Matters

• Transition periods after territorial capture are a distinct and dangerous phase for civilians, with implications for humanitarian timing and protection strategies
• Results speak to debates in the rebel governance literature by showing how violence can serve a short-term control function prior to institutionalization
• Empirical approach demonstrates the value of integrating event data for studying the dynamics of violence following territorial change